Search system, search method, and program

ABSTRACT

To increase convenience of a user interface, a search system (S) is a search system for a reservable or purchasable item. Search means ( 201 ) executes an item search based on a search condition input by a user. Viewing means ( 202 ) enables the user to view an item selected by the user from among search results obtained by the search means ( 201 ). Associating means ( 203 ) records in storage means ( 200 ) the viewed item and the search condition used in the search in association with each other. Display control means ( 204 ) controls, when an item is reserved or purchased by the user, display of the viewed item based on content information on reservation content or purchase content and based on the search condition associated with the viewed item.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a search system, a search method, and aprogram.

BACKGROUND ART

Hitherto, there has been known a technology for searching an item. Forexample, in Patent Literature 1, there is disclosed a reservation systemfor hotels, which are an example of an item, in which hotels aresearched based on a search condition such as a date of use, a number ofusers, and a place of stay input by a user, and a history of the hotelsviewed by the user is recorded as a viewing history.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

[PTL 1] JP 2016-139931 A

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

In such a reservation system as that of Patent Literature 1, there isalso a system for displaying a viewing history list showing the historyof the hotels viewed by the user. However, in such a system, even whenthe reservation for the hotel is complete, other hotels that arecompared at the time of the search remain being displayed in the viewinghistory list. These other hotels are searched by the same searchcondition as the reserved hotel and these other hotels may beunnecessary information. In the viewing history list of PatentLiterature 1, hence such unnecessary information remains, which is not ahighly convenient user interface.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentionedproblem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a searchsystem, a search method, and a program, which are capable of enhancingconvenience of a user interface.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a search systemaccording to one embodiment of the present invention is a search systemfor a reservable or purchasable item, and includes: search means forexecuting an item search based on a search condition input by a user;viewing means for viewing an item selected by the user from among searchresults obtained by the search means; associating means for recording instorage means the viewed item and the search condition used in thesearch in association with each other; and display control means forcontrolling, when an item is reserved or purchased by the user, displayof the viewed item based on content information on reservation contentor purchase content and based on the search condition associated withthe viewed item.

A search method according to one embodiment of the present invention isa search method for a reservable or purchasable item, and includes: asearch step of executing an item search based on a search conditioninput by a user; a viewing step of viewing an item selected by the userfrom among search results obtained in the search step; an associatingstep of recording in storage means the viewed item and the searchcondition used in the search in association with each other; and adisplay control step of controlling, when an item is reserved orpurchased by the user, display of the viewed item based on contentinformation on reservation content or purchase content and based on thesearch condition associated with the viewed item.

A program according to one embodiment of the present invention causes acomputer to function as: search means for executing an item search basedon a search condition input by a user; viewing means for viewing an itemselected by the user from among search results obtained by the searchmeans; associating means for recording in storage means the viewed itemand the search condition used in the search in association with eachother; and display control means for controlling, when an item isreserved or purchased by the user, display of the viewed item based oncontent information on reservation content or purchase content and basedon the search condition associated with the viewed item. In one aspectof the present invention, the item reserved or purchased by the user isone viewed item, the content information is a search condition used inthe search of the reserved or purchased viewed item, and the displaycontrol means is configured to control, based on a search conditionassociated with the reserved or purchased viewed item and based on asearch condition associated with another viewed item, display of theanother viewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search condition includes acondition regarding each of a plurality of sub-items, the contentinformation is information on, of the plurality of sub-items, at leastone sub-item relating to the reservation content or purchase content,and the display control means is configured to perform display controlbased on the content information and based on the condition regardingthe at least one sub-item included in the search condition associatedwith the viewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the display control means isconfigured to identify a viewed item that is unusable due to arelationship with the item reserved or purchased by the user, andperform display control of the identified viewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search condition includes acondition relating to a date of use of an item, the content informationindicates the date of use of the reserved or purchased item, and thedisplay control means is configured to identify the unusable viewed itembased on the date of use of the the reserved or purchased item and basedon the date of use indicated by the search condition associated with theviewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search system is configuredto receive from a user terminal a display request for the viewed item,and the display control means is configured to execute, in advance,preparation processing for controlling display of the viewed item beforethe display request is received from the user terminal, and when thedisplay request is received from the user terminal, perform displaycontrol based on an execution result of the preparation processing.

In one aspect of the present invention, the display control means isconfigured to restrict display of the viewed item when a searchcondition including content corresponding to the content information isassociated with the viewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the display control means isconfigured to preferentially display the viewed item when a searchcondition including content corresponding to the content information isassociated with the viewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the content information isinformation stored in a database for storing reservation content orpurchase content specified by the user when an item is reserved orpurchased by the user, and the display control means is configured toperform display control based on the content information stored in thedatabase and based on the search condition associated with the vieweditem.

In one aspect of the present invention, when a viewed item displayed bythe display control means is selected by the user, the viewing meansenables the viewed item to be viewed based on the search conditionassociated with the viewed item.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search condition includes acondition relating to a date of use of a service relating to an item,the content information indicates the date of use of the reserved orpurchased item, the search system further includes elapse determinationmeans for determining whether at least one of the date of use indicatedby the search condition associated with the viewed item or the date ofuse of the reserved or purchased item has elapsed, and the displaycontrol means is configured to perform display control based further ona determination result obtained by the elapse determination means.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to enhance theconvenience of the user interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram for illustrating an overall configuration of asearch system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for illustrating an example of a top screen.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for illustrating how a search is executed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for illustrating how a viewing history is displayedon the top screen.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for illustrating how an availability situation isdisplayed in a display area.

FIG. 6 is a function block diagram for illustrating an example offunctions to be implemented by a search system according to a firstembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a table for showing a data storage example of an itemdatabase.

FIG. 8 is a table for showing a data storage example of a stockdatabase.

FIG. 9 is a table for showing a data storage example of a viewinghistory database.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for illustrating an example of processing to beexecuted by the search system.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for illustrating details of processing of StepS2.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for illustrating an example of a top screen in asecond embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for illustrating how viewed hotels displayed in adisplay area change before and after a reservation.

FIG. 14 is a function block diagram for illustrating an example offunctions to be implemented by a search system according to the secondembodiment.

FIG. 15 is a table for showing a data storage example of a viewinghistory database of the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a table for showing a data storage example of a reservationdatabase.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for illustrating details of processing of StepS16 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a function block diagram in modification examples of thefirst embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen in Modification Example (1-1).

FIG. 20 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen in Modification Example (1-2).

FIG. 21 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen in Modification Example (1-3).

FIG. 22 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen in Modification Example (1-5).

FIG. 23 is a function block diagram in modification examples of thesecond embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen in Modification Example (2-1).

FIG. 25 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen in Modification Example (2-3).

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 1. First Embodiment

There is now described a search system according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention.

1-1. Overall Configuration of Search System

FIG. 1 is a diagram for illustrating an overall configuration of thesearch system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a search system S includes auser terminal 10 and a server 20, which are capable of being connectedto a network N, for example, the Internet. In FIG. 1, one user terminal10 and one server 20 are illustrated, but a plurality of user terminals10 and a plurality of servers 20 may be arranged.

The user terminal 10 is a computer to be used by a user, and examples ofthe user terminal 10 include a cell phone (including a smartphone), aportable information terminal (including a tablet computer), and apersonal computer. In the embodiments, the user terminal 10 includes acontrol unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication unit 13, anoperating unit 14, and a display unit 15.

The control unit 11 includes at least one microprocessor. The controlunit 11 executes processing in accordance with programs and data storedin the storage unit 12. The storage unit 12 includes a main memory unitand an auxiliary memory unit. For example, the main memory unit is avolatile memory, for example, a RAM, and the auxiliary memory unit is anon-volatile memory such as a ROM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, or a harddisk drive.

The communication unit 13 is a communication interface for wiredcommunication or wireless communication, and performs data communicationvia the network. The operating unit 14 is an input device to be used bythe user for operation, and is, for example, a pointing device such as atouch panel and a mouse, a keyboard, or a button. The operating unit 14transmits details of operation by the user to the control unit 11. Thedisplay unit 15 is, for example, a liquid crystal display unit or anorganic EL display unit. The display unit 15 displays an image inaccordance with an instruction of the control unit 11.

The server 20 is a server computer. The server 20 includes a controlunit 21, a storage unit 22, and a communication unit 23. Physicalconfigurations of the control unit 21, the storage unit 22, and thecommunication unit 23 may be the same as those of the control unit 11,the storage unit 12, and the communication unit 13, respectively.

Programs and data to be described as being stored into the storage units12 and 22 may be supplied thereto via the network N. Further, therespective hardware configurations of the computers described above arenot limited to the above-mentioned examples, and various types ofhardware can be applied thereto. For example, the hardware configurationmay include a reading unit (e.g., an optical disc drive or a memory cardslot) configured to read a computer-readable information storage medium,or an input/output unit (e.g., a USB port) configured to input andoutput data to/from an external device. For example, the program and thedata stored in the information storage medium may be supplied to each ofthe computers through intermediation of the reading unit or theinput/output unit.

1-2. Outline of First Embodiment

In a first embodiment of the present invention, as an example, there isdescribed a case in which the search system S is applied to a travelreservation service. The travel reservation service is a service forsupporting a travel reservation by the user. In the first embodiment, asan example, there is described a travel reservation service forcomprehensively supporting a reservation for an accommodation facility,an airline ticket, a rental car, a bus, and the like.

In the first embodiment, a hotel is described as an example of theaccommodation facility, but the accommodation facility is not limited toa hotel, and may be an inn, a private accommodation facility, or a guesthouse. The content of the travel reservation service is not limited tothat of the example described in the first embodiment, and for example,there may be supported a reservation for a train, a restaurant, or anoptional tour, or there may be supported a reservation for a packagetour combining a hotel, an airline ticket, and the like as a set. Thereservation service is not limited to comprehensively supporting aplurality of reservations, and the travel reservation service may be aservice for supporting anyone of the reservations. For example, theprocessing in the first embodiment can also be applied to a case inwhich only a hotel reservation or an airline ticket reservation isperformed.

The search system S is also applicable to any situations other than atravel reservation, and may also be applied to various situations suchas electronic commerce, ticket sales, or event reservations. Examples inwhich the search system S is applied in other situations are describedin modification examples to be described later.

For example, when the user operates the user terminal 10 to access theserver 20, a top screen of the travel reservation service is displayedon the display unit 15. The screen described below may be displayed asthe screen of a travel reservation application stored in the userterminal 10, or may be shown as the screen of a web browser.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for illustrating an example of the top screen. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, for example, input forms F10 to F13 for inputtingsearch conditions and a button B14 for executing a search are displayedon a top screen G1. For example, the top screen G1 includes a displayarea A15 for displaying a hotel and the like recently viewed by theuser, and a display area A16 for displaying a recommended hotel and thelike.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the top screen G1 enables the user to inputvarious search conditions for a hotel reservation, an airline ticketreservation, a rental car reservation, and a bus reservation. The searchconditions are a query to be used in the search, and any conditions maybe input. The search conditions may be a keyword, a numerical valueselected from among a plurality of predetermined numerical values (e.g.,date, time, number of people, or budget), or attribute information on acategory, for example.

For example, in the case of a hotel reservation, search conditions suchas a place of stay, a date of use (date of stay), a number of users, andan accommodation rate are input. For example, in the case of an airlineticket reservation, search conditions such as a place of departure, anintended destination, a departure date, a departure time, an arrivaldate, an arrival time, an airline, and a fare are input. For example, inthe case of a rental car reservation, search conditions such as adeparture location, a return location, the date of use, a time of use, avehicle type, and a rental cost are input. For example, in the case of abus reservation, search conditions such as the place of departure, theintended destination, the departure date, the departure time, thearrival date, the arrival time, a bus company, and the fare are input.

In the first embodiment, in order to simplify the description, there isdescribed processing to be performed when the user makes a hotelreservation. For example, the user inputs a keyword, for example, theplace of stay, in the input form F10. The place of stay is not requiredto be input as a keyword, and may be selected from a list of regionsprepared in advance. For example, a check-in date is input in the inputform F11, and a check-out date is input in the input form F12. Forexample, the number of users is input in the input form F13. When theuser inputs those search conditions and selects the button B14, a searchis executed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for illustrating how a search is executed. Asillustrated in top screens G1A and G1B of FIG. 3, for example, when theuser inputs the search conditions in the input forms F10 to F13 andselects the button B14, a search is executed for hotels satisfying thesearch conditions. In the example of the top screen G1B of FIG. 3, asearch is executed for, among the hotels in “Tokyo” input in the inputform F10, hotels that have a room available for “two people” input inthe input form F13 and on the date of use “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3,2018” input in the input forms F11 and F12.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, when a hotel search is executed, a searchresult screen G2 showing the search result is displayed on the displayunit 15. For example, the search conditions used in the search aredisplayed in an input form F20 of the search result screen G2. When theuser does not find a desired hotel, the user changes the searchconditions from the input form F20 and executes the search again.

For example, the hotels retrieved in the search are displayed in a listL21 of the search result screen G2. In the list L21, the hotelsretrieved in the search are displayed in a selectable manner. When it isnot possible to display all of the hotels on the screen, the user maydisplay the hotels that are not displayed by scrolling through the listL21 or performing a predetermined page turning operation. For example, aname, an image (not shown in FIG. 3), a user evaluation (rating), aprice range, and other such information on the hotels retrieved in thesearch are displayed in the list L21.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, when the user selects a hotel displayed in thelist L21, a hotel screen G3, which is a page showing the details of thehotel, is displayed on the display unit 15. In FIG. 3, there isillustrated a case in which the user selects “Hotel A” in the list L21,and the hotel screen G3 showing the page of “Hotel A” is displayed onthe display unit 15. For example, the name, the evaluation, the image, aroom name, and the rate of “Hotel A”, and a button B30 for reserving theroom, are displayed on the hotel screen G3.

For example, when the user selects the button B30, the screentransitions to a reservation screen of the room corresponding to thebutton B30. Then, after option information such as a meal or a beautytreatment has been selected and guest information has been input, thereservation is complete. The reservation may be performed with thevalues for the date of use and the number of users as input in thesearch conditions, or may be performed after changing the date of useand the number of users input in the search conditions.

Similarly, when the user selects “Hotel B” or “Hotel C” in the list L21of FIG. 3, the hotel screen G3 showing the page of the selected “HotelB” or “Hotel C” is displayed on the display unit 15. For example, theuser repeats the search until he or she finds a desired hotel whilemoving back and forth between the search result screen G2 and the hotelscreen G3 and changing the search conditions from the search resultscreen G2 to perform the search again.

In the first embodiment, the hotels displayed by the user on the hotelscreen G3 are displayed as a viewing history (recently viewed pages) inthe display area A15 of the top screen G1. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 3, when the user compares a plurality of hotels and then returnsto the top screen G1, those hotels are displayed in the display area A15as a viewing history.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for illustrating how the viewing history isdisplayed on the top screen G1. In FIG. 4, there is illustrated anexample in which the user viewed “Hotel A”, “Hotel B”, “Hotel C”, “HotelD”, and “Hotel E” in the stated order. In the following description, thehotels viewed by the user are referred to as “viewed hotels”.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, images G150A to G150E respectivelyrepresenting those viewed hotels are displayed in the display area A15in the viewed order. For example, in the display area A15, the mostrecently viewed hotel is displayed at the top left, and the other viewedhotels are arranged in chronological order to the right or in a downwarddirection therefrom. As a result, in the example of FIG. 4, the imageG150E of “Hotel E” viewed most recently is arranged at the top left, andthe images G150D to G150A of “Hotel D”, “Hotel C”, “Hotel B”, and “HotelA” are arranged in order. In the following description, the images G150Ato G150E are simply referred to as “images G150” when it is not requiredto distinguish those images.

For example, the images G150 may include the hotel name, and may includea photograph of the outside or inside appearance of the viewed hotels.For example, information such as the location, the price range, and theuser evaluation of the viewed hotels may be displayed on the imagesG150. When the user selects one of the images G150, the hotel screen G3of the viewed hotel represented by the images G150 is displayed on thedisplay unit 15. In this case, the hotel represented by the image G150selected by the user is the most recently viewed hotel, and hence whenthe screen subsequently returns to the top screen G1, the arrangement ofthe images G150 is also updated. When the user selects the image G150Eof “Hotel E” viewed most recently by the user, the viewed order of therespective hotels does not change, and hence the arrangement of theimages G150 also does not change.

In the first embodiment, the search conditions used in the search forthe hotels are associated with the viewed hotels. In the search exampleof FIG. 3, the search conditions (search conditions input on the topscreen G1B) of “Tokyo” as the place of stay, “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3,2018” as the date of use, and “2 people” as the number of users areassociated with each of “Hotel A”, “Hotel B”, “Hotel C”, “Hotel D”, and“Hotel E”. The search conditions associated with the viewed hotels mayalso be displayed on the images G150. Specifically, the images G150 maybe displayed in a manner that enables identification of the searchconditions used in the search for the viewed hotels.

In the first embodiment, information on the availability situation basedon the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels is displayedtogether with those hotels in the display area A15. In the example ofFIG. 4, information on the presence or absence of a remaining room whenthe date of use is “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3, 2018” and the number ofusers is “2 people” is displayed in the display area A15.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for illustrating how the availability situation isdisplayed in the display area A15. As shown in the top screen G1C ofFIG. 5, when any viewed hotels have an available room based on thesearch conditions at the time of the search, the image G150 of eachhotel is displayed as it is in the display area A15. From this state,for example, when there are no longer remaining rooms for “Hotel D”, asshown in the top screen G1D, a message M151D, for example, “SOLD OUT”,is displayed on the image G150D of “Hotel D”, to thereby notify the userthat there are no available rooms based on the search conditions at thetime of the search. In the message M151D, the search conditions at thetime of the search may be displayed. For example, the date of use andthe number of users input at the time of the search may also bedisplayed.

Subsequently, when there are no longer remaining rooms for “Hotel A” aswell, as illustrated in the top screen G1E, a message M151A, forexample, “SOLD OUT”, is displayed on the image G150A of “Hotel A”, tothereby notify the user that there are no available rooms based on thesearch conditions at the time of the search. Then, when a remaining roombecomes available due to a cancellation for “Hotel D”, as shown in thetop screen G1F, the message M151D on the image G150D of “Hotel D” isremoved and the original display is restored, to thereby notify the userthat there is an available room for “Hotel D” based on the searchconditions at the time of the search.

In the following description, when it is not required to distinguishbetween the messages M151A and B151D, the messages M151A and B151D aresimply referred to as “message M151”. Similarly, for “Hotel B”, “HotelC”, and “Hotel E”, the message M151 is displayed when there is noavailable room based on the search conditions at the time of the search,and when a room subsequently becomes available, the message M151 isremoved. A determination of the stock of the viewed hotels may beexecuted only when the top screen G1 is displayed, or may beperiodically executed while the top screen G1 is displayed and thedisplay of the display area A15 may be periodically updated.

As described above, with the search system S of the first embodiment,through displaying of a list of the viewed hotels in the display areaA15 of the top screen G1 and displaying the message M151 when there areno available rooms based on the search conditions at the time of thesearch, the user is prevented from selecting the images G150 despite thefact that there are no available rooms, which enhances the convenienceof the user interface. The details of this technology are now described.

1-3. Functions to be Implemented in First Embodiment

FIG. 6 is a function block diagram for illustrating an example offunctions to be implemented by the search system S of the firstembodiment. In the first embodiment, there is described a case in whichthe main functions relating to display control are implemented by theserver 20, but as in the modification examples described later, the mainfunctions may be implemented by the user terminal 10, or may be sharedbetween the user terminal 10 and the server 20.

1-3-1. Functions to be Implemented by Server

As illustrated in FIG. 6, in the server 20, a data storage unit 200, asearch unit 201, a viewing unit 202, an associating unit 203, and adisplay control unit 204 are implemented. The data storage unit 200, thesearch unit 201, the viewing unit 202, the associating unit 203, and thedisplay control unit 204 are an example of storage means, search means,viewing means, associating means, and display control means,respectively.

[Data Storage Unit]

The data storage unit 200 is mainly implemented by the storage unit 22.The data storage unit 200 stores data required for searches and displaycontrol. As an example of the data stored in the data storage unit 200,there is described here an item database DB1, a stock database DB2, anda viewing history database DB3.

FIG. 7 is a table for showing a data storage example of the itemdatabase DB1. The item database DB1 is a database for storing varioustypes of information on items for which there is stock information oneach sub-item.

The items are information serving as a search target, and may be, forexample, a service to be reserved by the user or a product to bepurchased by the user. In other words, items may be referred to as “dataitems”, or may be referred to as “individual records in the database tobe searched”. For this reason, items can also be referred to as“information on a service to be reserved by the user” or “information ona product to be purchased by the user”.

For example, in the case of a hotel reservation, the items are hotels orrooms. In the case of an airline reservation, the items are airlines orseats. In the case of a rental car reservation, the items are vehicle tobe rented. In the case of a bus reservation, the items are buses orseats. In the case of a train reservation, the items are trains orseats. In the case of a restaurant reservation, the items arerestaurants, seats, or tables. In the case of an optional tourreservation, the items are optional tours.

The sub-items are information associated with the items, and may be, forexample, the content (conditions) of the service to be reserved by theuser or the content (conditions) of the product to be purchased by theuser. Similarly to the items, the sub-items can also be referred to as“data items”, but the sub-items are data items corresponding to alower-level concept of the items. For example, a sub-item is an indexfor searching for an item, and is information to be compared with asearch condition (search query). For example, the sub-items of each itemmay be the date of use relating to the item, and in this case, thesearch conditions may include a condition relating to the date of use.At least one sub-item is associated with each item.

For example, in the case of a hotel reservation, the sub-items are thehotel location, the date of use, or the number of users. In the case ofan airline reservation, the sub-items are the place of departure, theintended destination, the departure date, the departure time, thearrival date, or the arrival time. In the case of a rental carreservation, the sub-items are a store location, the date of use, thetime of use, a possible number of passengers, or a vehicle type. In thecase of a bus reservation, the sub-items are the place of departure, theintended destination, the departure date, or the departure time. In thecase of a train reservation, the sub-items are the place of departure,the intended destination, the departure date, the departure time, thearrival date, or the arrival time. In the case of a restaurantreservation, the sub-items are a restaurant location, the date of use, ameal genre, or a menu. In the case of an optional tour reservation, thesub-items are a location at which the tour is to be performed, the dateof use, or tour content.

The stock information is information indicating a stock quantity of thesub-item. The stock quantity is the number of remaining items, and canalso be referred to as “number of items that can be used” or “number ofitems that can be purchased”. For example, the stock information isassociated with the sub-items. For example, stock information exists foreach sub-item. It is not required for stock information to be associatedwith all the sub-items, and it is sufficient if stock information isassociated with at least one sub-item.

For example, in the case of a hotel reservation, the stock informationindicates the number of remaining rooms in the hotel. In the case of anairline reservation, the stock information indicates the number ofremaining seats in the aircraft. In the case of a rental carreservation, the stock information indicates the number of remainingvehicles. In the case of a bus reservation, the stock informationindicates the number of remaining seats on the bus. In the case of atrain reservation, the stock information indicates the number ofremaining seats on the train. In the case of a restaurant reservation,the stock information indicates the number of remaining tables or seatsin the restaurant. In the case of an optional tour reservation, thestock information indicates the number of remaining people for which areservation can be performed.

In the first embodiment, in order to simplify the description, as anexample, there is described a case in which a hotel corresponds to anitem and a date of use corresponds to a sub-item. Therefore, in thefirst embodiment, the word “hotel” can be read as “item”, and the words“date of use” can be read as “sub-item”. As a result, the stockinformation indicates the number of remaining rooms for each date of useof each room.

As shown in FIG. 7, the item database DB1 stores data relating to thehotels. For example, a hotel ID for uniquely identifying each hotel,hotel information, and room information are stored.

The hotel information is basic information on the hotel. For example, aname, address, contact information, building image, facilities withinthe hotel, amenities, and a price range of the hotel are stored. Theroom information is basic information on each room in the hotel. Forexample, a room ID for uniquely identifying the room, the room name, thenumber of people who can use the room, a room type, a layout, a size,presence or absence of a bath and bathroom, and introductory descriptionabout the room are stored.

The hotel information and the room information may be used as an indexat the time of the search. For example, when the location of the placeof stay is input as a query, the address of the hotel information isused as an index. For example, when the number of users is input as aquery, the number of people who can use the room of the room informationis used an index.

In the first embodiment, there is described an example of a hotelsearch, and hence, in FIG. 7, only data relating to hotels is shown inthe item database DB1. However, data relating to airline tickets, carrentals, or buses may be stored in the item database DB1. In this case,the type of each piece of data may be identified by using an ID foridentifying the type of each data (provider of each service), such as ahotel, an airline ticket, a car rental, or a bus.

FIG. 8 is a table for showing a data storage example of the stockdatabase DB2. As shown in FIG. 8, the stock database DB2 is a databasefor storing stock information on each date of use. For example, thehotel ID, the room ID, the date of use, and the stock information arestored in the stock database DB2. For example, there are a plurality oftypes of rooms in a hotel and a plurality of rooms of the same type, andhence the stock database DB2 stores the date of use and the stockinformation as a pair for each type of hotel room. The date of use ofthe stock database DB2 is used as an index at the time of the search.For example, the stock information from the check-in date until the daybefore the check-out date input in the search conditions may be referredto.

FIG. 9 is a table for showing a data storage example of the viewinghistory database DB3. As shown in FIG. 9, the viewing history databaseDB3 is a database for storing the viewing history of the user. Forexample, in the viewing history database DB3, a user ID for uniquelyidentifying the user, the viewed order, the hotel ID of the viewedhotels, the search conditions used in the search, and a viewing time arestored. The viewing history database DB3 is updated by the associatingunit 203, which is described later.

Data to be stored in the data storage unit 200 is not limited to theabove-mentioned example. For example, the data storage unit 200 maystore image data for displaying the screens illustrated in FIG. 2 toFIG. 5. For example, the data storage unit 200 may also store a databasefor storing basic information on each user. For example, the residenceof the user may be stored in the database and used as the place ofdeparture for an airline ticket reservation or the like.

[Search Unit]

The search unit 201 is mainly implemented by the control unit 21. Thesearch unit 201 executes a hotel search based on the search conditionsinput by the user. Various known processing may be applied to the searchitself. For example, when a keyword search is to be executed, a perfectmatch or a partial match may be used, or a fuzzy search may be used. Forexample, when a numerical search is to be executed, numerical valuesmatching a numerical range specified by the search conditions aresearched.

The hotel search is an example of an item search in the presentinvention. The item search may be any processing for searching for anitem, and is processing in which search conditions are used as a queryto search for an item having an index that matches the query. In otherwords, the item search is processing of searching the item database DB1for the record of the item that matches the search conditions.

The search unit 201 receives the search conditions from the userterminal 10, and executes a hotel search based on the received searchconditions. In the first embodiment, the search unit 201 receives, fromthe user terminal 10, the search conditions input in the input forms F10to F13 of the top screen G1, and executes a hotel search based on thereceived search conditions. In this example, the place of stay, the dateof use, and the number of users are input in the input forms F10 to F13,and hence the search unit 201 uses the input place of stay, date of use,and number of users as a query. The hotel search is executed through useof the hotel information and the room information stored in the itemdatabase DB1 and the date of use stored in the stock database DB2 as anindex.

For example, the search unit 201 searches for records in which the placeof stay input in the input form F10 matches the address stored in thehotel information, and identifies hotels matching the place of stay.Then, the search unit 201 narrows the search to, from among theidentified hotels, hotel rooms in which the number of people input inthe input form F13 matches the number of people who can use the roomstored in the room information. The search unit 201 then refers to thestock database DB2 and narrows the search to, from among thenarrowed-down hotel rooms, rooms that are available for the date of useinput in the input forms F11 and F12. The search unit 201 then acquires,as a search result, the hotels having a room finally obtained bynarrowing the search. The hotels included in the search result can eachbe said to be a hotel matching the search conditions.

[Viewing Unit]

The viewing unit 202 is mainly implemented by the control unit 21. Theviewing unit 202 views a hotel selected by the user from among thesearch results obtained by the search unit 201. The search result is aprocessing result obtained by the search unit 201, and may include, forexample, information such as the hotel ID, hotel information, roominformation, and stock information on the hotels retrieved in thesearch. In the first embodiment, the search result is displayed in thelist L21 included in the search result screen G2.

The term “viewing” refers to display of information on the hotel on thedisplay unit 15. For example, the information on the hotel is at leastone of hotel information, room information, and stock information. Theviewing unit 202 views the hotel by displaying the hotel screen G3 onthe display unit 15. In other words, the term “viewing” refers to thetransmission of information on the hotel from the server 20 to the userterminal 10. The viewing unit 202 views the hotel by transmitting thedisplay data on the hotel screen G3 to the user terminal 10. The displaydata may be data for displaying a screen, and is, for example, HTMLdata, image data, or text data.

In the first embodiment, the viewing unit 202 is implemented by theserver 20. Therefore, the viewing unit 202 receives from the userterminal 10 the hotel ID of the hotel selected by the user from the listL21, and views the hotel indicated by the received hotel ID. Forexample, the viewing unit 202 generates the display data on the hotelscreen G3 based on the hotel information and the room information on arecord in which the received hotel ID is stored from among the recordsof the item database DB1, and transmits the generated display data tothe user terminal 10. As a result, the user can view the details of thehotel. For example, the viewing unit 202 may also view the stockinformation by transmitting to the user terminal 10 the stockinformation on a record in which the received hotel ID is stored fromamong the records of the stock database DB2.

For example, when a viewed hotel displayed by the display control unit204 is selected by the user, the viewing unit 202 may view the viewedhotel based on the search conditions associated with the viewed hotel.More specifically, when a viewed hotel displayed in the display area A15is selected, the viewing unit 202 may generate the display data on thehotel screen G3 based on the search conditions at the time of the searchfor the viewed hotel, and transmit the generated display data to theuser terminal. The viewing unit 202 refers to a record in which thehotel ID of the viewed hotel selected by the user is stored from amongthe records of the viewing history database DB3, and acquires the searchconditions. Then, the viewing unit 202 refers to a record in which thehotel ID is stored from among the records of each of the item databaseDB1 and the stock database DB2, searches for rooms satisfying the searchconditions, and views the viewed hotel.

[Associating Unit]

The associating unit 203 is mainly implemented by the control unit 21.The associating unit 203 records in the data storage unit 200 the viewedhotels and the search conditions used in the search in association witheach other.

The viewed hotels are the hotels that has already been viewed by theuser based on control by the viewing unit 202. In other words, theviewed hotels are the hotels for which the hotel screen G3 has beendisplayed on the display unit 15 by the viewing unit 202, and for whichthe display data on the hotel screen G3 is transmitted to the userterminal 10.

The search conditions used in the search are the search conditions inputat the time of the search of the viewed hotels. In other words, thesearch conditions used in the search are the search conditions that wereused as a query at the time of searching for the viewed hotels. Afterthe search is executed by the search unit 201, the search conditions areheld in the data storage unit 200, and are stored in the viewing historydatabase DB3 when a hotel is viewed. The term “associate” as used hereinmeans the linking of pieces of information to each other, which enablesa plurality of information to be mutually searchable on a database.

The viewed hotels and the search conditions may be associated with eachother in any database included in the data storage unit 200, but in thefirst embodiment, the viewed hotels and the search conditions areassociated with each other in the viewing history database DB3. Forexample, the associating unit 203 stores the hotel IDs of the viewedhotels and the search conditions used in the search in the same recordof the viewing history database DB3.

For example, when a hotel is viewed by the user by using the viewingunit 202, the associating unit 203 stores the viewed hotel and thesearch conditions in the viewing history database in association witheach other. In other words, each time a hotel is viewed by the user byusing the viewing unit 202, the associating unit 203 stores the viewedhotel and the search conditions in the viewing history database inassociation with each other.

The search conditions may be stored as it is, or only the searchconditions influencing the stock information may be stored. For example,the place of stay input as a search condition does not influence thestock information, and hence it is not always required that the place ofstay input as the search condition be stored in the viewing historydatabase DB3, and only the date of use and the number of users may bestored in the viewing history database DB3.

In the case where the viewed hotels are viewed again, when the searchconditions have changed, the associating unit 203 stores the new searchconditions and the viewed hotels in the viewing history database DB3 inassociation with each other. In this case, the record in which the oldsearch conditions are stored may be left as it is or discarded. Forexample, the search conditions of the record in which the old searchconditions are stored may be updated to new search conditions. In thiscase, the viewing date and time of the viewing history database DB3 maybe updated to the latest viewing date and time.

[Display Control Unit]

The display control unit 204 is mainly implemented by the control unit21. The display control unit 204 controls the display of the viewedhotels based on the stock information on the date of use satisfying thesearch conditions associated with the viewed hotels.

When the search conditions are satisfied, this means that the searchconditions and the index match. In other words, satisfying the searchconditions corresponds to being retrieved in the search. In the firstembodiment, the date of use is equivalent to a sub-item, and the stockinformation is associated with the date of use. Therefore, when the dateof use included in the search conditions matches the date of use storedin the stock database DB2, this is equivalent to satisfaction of thesearch conditions associated with the viewed hotels.

The number of viewed hotels to be subjected to the display control maybe only one viewed hotel, or may be a plurality of viewed hotels. When aplurality of viewed hotels are to be subjected to the display control,all of the viewed hotels stored in the viewing history database DB3 maybe subjected to the display control, or a part of the viewed hotels maybe subjected to the display control. When a part of the viewed hotels isto be subjected to the display control, a predetermined number of themost recently viewed hotels may be subjected to the display control, orrandomly selected viewed hotels may be subjected to the display control.The predetermined number may be within a range (e.g., from about 2 toabout 10) that fits on the display area A15, or may be more.

For example, when the display control unit 204 receives from the userterminal 10 a display request for the viewing history, the displaycontrol unit 204 refers to a record in which the user ID of the user whotransmitted the display request is stored from among the records of theviewing history database DB3. The display request may be any requesthaving a predetermined format for displaying the viewing history, and,in the first embodiment, is a request for displaying the top screen G1.The user ID may be stored in advance in a data storage unit 100 of theuser terminal 10.

The display control unit 204 refers to a predetermined number of themost recent records from among the above-mentioned referenced records.For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when data is stored in the viewinghistory database DB3 in order of the most recent viewing time, thedisplay control unit 204 refers to a predetermined number of the recordsin that order. Then, the display control unit 204 acquires, based on thestock database DB2, the stock information on the date of use indicatedby the search conditions stored in each of the referenced records, andcontrols the display of the viewed hotels based on the acquired stockinformation.

For example, the display control unit 204 may determine the presence orabsence of stock based on stock information on the date of usesatisfying the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels, andperform display control based on the determination result. For example,the display control unit 204 determines that there is stock when a valueindicated by the stock information is equal to or larger than athreshold value, and determines that there is no stock when the value issmaller than the threshold value. In the first embodiment, the thresholdvalue is 1, but the threshold value may be set to a numerical value of 2or larger (e.g., numerical value of from 2 to 5), and when there is onlya small amount of stock remaining, it may be regarded that there is nostock.

The processing of determining the presence or absence of stock may beperformed such that processing of determining whether or not the date ofuse has passed is not particularly included, or performed such thatprocessing of determining whether or not the date of use has passed isincluded. When the date of use of the viewed hotels has passed, it isnot required to determine the presence or absence of stock for the dateof use, and hence the display control unit 204 is not required todetermine the presence or absence of stock for viewed hotels for whichthe date of use has passed. The processing of determining the presenceor absence of stock may include processing of determining whether or notthe date of use of the viewed hotels has passed.

For example, the display control unit 204 may display, in associationwith the viewed hotels, information indicating the presence or absenceof stock for the date of use satisfying the search conditions associatedwith the viewed hotels.

The information indicating the presence or absence of stock isinformation enabling identification of the presence or absence of stock,and may be, for example, information indicating that there is stock, orinformation indicating that there is no stock. In the first embodiment,there is described a case in which the message M151 corresponds to theinformation indicating the presence or absence of stock, but otherinformation may be displayed. For example, an icon indicating thepresence or absence of stock may be displayed.

The expression “displaying in association with” means, for example,displaying information indicating the presence or absence of stock on ornear a viewed hotel, displaying information indicating the presence orabsence of stock by connecting such information to a viewed hotel by aline or the like, or displaying information indicating the presence orabsence of stock within a viewed hotel.

In the first embodiment, there is described a case in which displayingthe message M151 on the images G150 of the viewed hotels corresponds to“displaying in association with”. Therefore, for example, when there isno stock for the date of use satisfying the search conditions associatedwith a viewed hotel, the display control unit 204 displays a messageM151 indicating that effect on the image G150 of the viewed hotel. Theimage data on the message M151 may be stored in the data storage unit200 in advance.

The display control unit 204 may also display, when there is no stockfor date of use satisfying the search conditions associated with aviewed hotel, a message, an icon, or the like indicating that there isstock on the image G150 of the viewed hotel. In this case, the displaycontrol unit 204 may display a message, an icon, or the like indicatingthe current stock quantity.

The display control to be executed by the display control unit 204 isnot limited to the display of information indicating the presence orabsence of stock. For example, the display control unit 204 may changethe display mode of the images G150 representing the viewed hotels basedon the presence or absence of stock. The display mode is, for example, asize, a color, a brightness, a transparency level, a shape, a pattern,or the like of the image.

The display control unit 204 may display the images G150 in a firstdisplay mode (e.g., normal color that has not been processed) when thereis stock, and display the images G150 in a second display mode (e.g.,grayed out) when there is no stock. For example, the display controlunit 204 may also display the stock quantity indicated by the stockinformation as it is without determining the presence or absence ofstock.

1-3-2. Functions to be Implemented by User Terminal

As illustrated in FIG. 6, in the user terminal 10, the data storage unit100, a reception unit 101, and a display control unit 102 areimplemented. The data storage unit 100, the reception unit 101, and thedisplay control unit 102 are an example of storage means, receptionmeans, and display control means, respectively.

[Data Storage Unit]

The data storage unit 100 is mainly implemented by the storage unit 12.The data storage unit 100 stores data received from the server 20. Forexample, the data storage unit 100 may store the display data on each ofthe top screen G1, the search result screen G2, and the hotel screen G3.The data storage unit 100 may also store, for example, a user ID and thehotel IDs of the hotels included in the list L21.

[Reception Unit]

The reception unit 101 is mainly implemented by the control unit 11. Thereception unit 101 receives user operations based on a detection signalobtained by an operation unit 14. When the reception unit 101 receives auser operation, the user terminal 10 transmits information indicatingthe content of the operation to the server 20. For example, when thereception unit 101 receives an operation, the user terminal 10transmits, to the server 20, information for identifying which operationhas been performed.

[Display Control Unit]

The display control unit 102 is mainly implemented by the control unit11. The display control unit 102 displays various screens based on thedisplay data received from the server 20. For example, the displaycontrol unit 102 displays the top screen G1, the search result screenG2, and the hotel screen G3. For example, when each of those screens isto be displayed by using a web browser, the display data may be HTMLdata, and when each of those screens is to be displayed by using aprogram of the user terminal 10 (e.g., travel reservation application),the display data may be image or text information to be embedded in aframe.

1-4. Processing to be Executed in First Embodiment

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for illustrating an example of processing to beexecuted by the search system S. The processing illustrated in FIG. 10is executed by the control units 11 and 21 operating in accordance withprograms stored in the storage units 12 and 22, respectively. Theprocessing described below is an example of the processing to beexecuted by the function blocks illustrated in FIG. 6.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, first, in the user terminal 10, when apredetermined operation is performed from the operation unit 14, thecontrol unit 11 transmits to the server 20 a request for displaying thetop screen G1 (Step S1). For example, the predetermined operation may bean operation of selecting a URL of the top screen G1, or may be anoperation of activating the travel reservation application. The displayrequest for the top screen G1 is performed when data having apredetermined format is transmitted. The display request includesinformation (e.g., URL or screen ID) for identifying the top screen G1.When some kind of data is transmitted from the user terminal 10 to theserver 20, the user ID stored in the storage unit 12 is alsotransmitted.

In the server 20, when the display request is received, the control unit21 determines the display content of the top screen G1 based on theviewing history database DB3 (Step S2).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for illustrating details of the processing ofStep S2. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the control unit 21 identifies therecords in which the user ID received together with the display requestis stored from among the records of the viewing history database DB3,and refers to n (n is a natural number) most recent records (Step S20).In Step S20, the control unit 11 may refer to n records in order of themost recent viewing time, or may refer to n records in order of the mostrecent record number.

The control unit 21 substitutes 1 into a counter variable k (Step S21).The control unit 21 then acquires the hotel IDs and the searchconditions stored in the k-th record from among the records acquired inStep S20 (Step S22).

The control unit 21 acquires, based on the item database DB1 and thestock database DB2, the stock information on the date of use satisfyingthe search conditions acquired in Step S22 (Step S23). In Step S23, thecontrol unit 21 refers to the records in which the hotel IDs acquired inStep S22 are stored from among the records of the item database DB1, andidentifies the room IDs of the rooms satisfying the number of usersincluded in the search conditions. Then, the control unit 21 refers tothe records in which the hotel IDs and the room IDs are stored fromamong the records of the stock database DB2, and acquires the stockinformation on the date of use indicated by the search conditions.

The control unit 21 determines the presence or absence of stock based onthe stock information acquired in Step S23 (Step S24). In Step S24, thecontrol unit 21 determines whether the numerical value indicated by thestock information is equal to or larger than 1.

When it is determined that there is stock (Step S24: Y), the controlunit 21 arranges in the display area A15 an image G150 that does notinclude the message M151 of “SOLD OUT” (Step S25). The image G150 ofeach hotel may be stored in advance in the item database DB1 or thelike. Meanwhile, when it is determined that there is no stock (Step S24:N), the control unit 21 arranges in the display area A15 an image G150that includes the message M151 of “SOLD OUT” (Step S26).

The control unit 21 increments the counter variable k (Step S27), andthen determines whether the counter variable k has become larger than n(Step S28). This means that, in Step S28, the control unit 21 determineswhether or not the processing from Step S22 to Step S27 has beenexecuted for all of the n records acquired in Step S20.

When it is determined that the counter variable k is equal to or smallerthan n (Step S28: N), the processing returns to Step S22, and theprocessing of Step S22 to Step S27 is executed for the next record.Meanwhile, when it is determined that the counter variable k is largerthan n (Step S28: Y), the control unit 11 determines the display contentof the display area A16 (Step S29) and ends the processing of Step S2,and the processing advances to Step S3 of FIG. 10. In Step S29, thecontrol unit 11 may analyze a preference of the user based on theviewing history database DB3 to determine a hotel or the like to berecommended. For example, when the user makes a reservation for a hotel,a recommendation corresponding to the type of a reserved item, forexample, recommending content (airline ticket, car rental, or bus) otherthan the hotel, may be made.

Returning to FIG. 10, the control unit 21 generates the display data onthe top screen G1 based on the processing result of Step S2, andtransmits the display data to the user terminal 10 (Step S3). Thedisplay data on the top screen G1 includes identification information(e.g., hotel ID) of the hotels or the like displayed in the displayareas A15 and A16. As a result, for example, when the user selects animage G150, it becomes possible to identify which viewed hotel has beenselected.

In the user terminal 10, when display data is received, the control unit11 displays the top screen G1 on the display unit 15 based on thedisplay data (Step S4). The control unit 11 then identifies a useroperation based on the detection signal of the operation unit 14 (StepS5). In this example, there is described a case in which any one of anoperation of selecting the button B14 or an operation of selecting animage in the display area A15 is performed. When the operation ofinputting the search conditions in the input forms F10 to F12 isperformed, the input content is displayed in the input forms F10 to F12and recorded in the storage unit 12.

When the button B14 is selected (Step S5: B14), the control unit 11transmits a search request for requesting execution of a search (StepS6). The search request may be performed by transmitting data having apredetermined format, and includes the search conditions input in theinput forms F10 to F13.

In the server 20, when the search request is received, the control unit21 executes a hotel search based on the search conditions included inthe search request and based on the item database DB1 and the stockdatabase DB2 (Step S7). In Step S7, the control unit 21 executes thesearch through use of the search conditions as a query and the hotelinformation and the room information stored in the item database DB1 andthe date of use stored in the stock database DB2 as an index. Thecontrol unit 21 searches for hotels having a room matching the searchconditions and for which there is stock of the room, and acquires asearch result.

The control unit 21 generates the display data on the search resultscreen G2 based on the execution result of Step S7 and transmits thedisplay data to the user terminal 10 (Step S8). In this example, thedisplay data on the search result screen G2 includes the hotel IDs ofthe hotels included in the list L21. As a result, for example, when theuser selects a hotel in the list L21, it is possible to identify whichhotel is selected.

In the user terminal 10, when the display data is received, the controlunit 11 displays the search result screen G2 on the display unit 15(Step S9). The control unit 11 then identifies a user operation based onthe detection signal obtained by the operation unit 14 (Step S10). Inthis example, there is described a case in which an operation forreturning to the top screen G1 or an operation of selecting a hotel inthe list L21 is performed.

When an operation for returning to the top screen G1 is performed (StepS10: top), the processing returns to Step S1, and a display request forthe top screen G1 is transmitted. When an operation of selecting a hotelin the list L21 is performed (Step S10; selection), the control unit 11transmits a display request for the hotel screen G3 (Step S11). Thedisplay request for the hotel screen G3 includes the hotel ID of thehotel selected from the list L21.

In the server 20, when the display request is received, the control unit21 generates the display data on the hotel screen G3 based on the itemdatabase DB1, and transmits the display data to the user terminal 10(Step S12). In Step S12, the control unit 21 refers to the record inwhich the hotel ID included in the display request is stored from amongthe records of the item database DB1, and generates the display data onthe hotel screen G3 based on the hotel information and the roominformation. In Step S12, the control unit 21 may display only roomsthat were retrieved in the search of Step S7, or may display other roomsin the same hotel.

The control unit 21 stores the hotel ID included in the display requestand the search conditions received in Step S7 in the viewing historydatabase DB3 in association with each other (Step S13). In Step S12, thecontrol unit 21 creates a new record in the viewing history database DB3and stores the user ID, the hotel ID, the search conditions, and theviewing time received together with the display request. The viewingtime may be stored as the current time acquired by a real-time clock orthe like.

In the user terminal 10, when the display data is received, the controlunit 11 displays the hotel screen G3 on the display unit 15 (Step S14).The control unit 11 then identifies a user operation based on thedetection signal obtained by the operation unit 14 (Step S15). In thisexample, there is described an operation for returning to the top screenG1, an operation for returning to the search result screen G2, or anoperation of selecting the button B30.

When an operation for returning to the top screen G1 is performed (StepS15: top), the processing returns to Step S1, and a display request forthe top screen G1 is transmitted. Meanwhile, when an operation forreturning to the search result screen G2 is performed (Step S15: searchresult), the processing returns to Step S9, and the displayed screenreturns to the search result screen G2.

Meanwhile, when an operation of selecting the button B30 is performed(Step S15: B30), hotel reservation processing is executed between theuser terminal 10 and the server 20 (Step S16), and the processing ends.In Step S16, guest information and the like input in the user terminal10 are transmitted to the server 20, and the server 20 records the guestinformation and the like in the storage unit 22, and updates the stockdatabase DB2 such that the stock of the hotel room reserved by the userdecreases.

When an operation of selecting an image G150 in the display area A15 isperformed in Step S5 (Step S5: G150), the processing advances to StepS11, and a display request for the hotel screen G3 of the viewed hotelindicated by the image G150 selected by the user is transmitted. In thiscase, in the subsequent Step S12, the control unit 11 refers to therecord in which the hotel ID included in the display request is storedfrom among the records of the viewing history database DB3, and thedisplay data on the hotel screen G3 is generated based on the searchconditions stored in the record. In this case, the hotel is not selectedfrom the search results, and therefore the processing of Step S13 is notexecuted.

In the search system. S of the first embodiment, the display of theviewed hotels is controlled based on the stock information on the dateof use satisfying the search conditions associated with the viewedhotels, and the content of the stock can be grasped from the display ofthe viewed hotels. As a result, the convenience of the user interfacecan be enhanced. For example, when the viewed hotels are displayedwithout any association with stock information, a viewed hotel for whichthere are no remaining rooms may be selected. In such a case, even whenthe hotel screen G3 is displayed, it is not possible to make areservation, and the user is forced to waste time and effort to returnto the original page or move to another page. However, with the searchsystem S, the stock-related content can be grasped from the display ofthe viewed hotels. As a result, such a waste of time and effort can beprevented from occurring, and a user interface that is convenient forthe user can be provided. With the search system S, the user is notforced to waste time and effort to return to the original page or moveto another page, and hence the number of processes required by theserver 20 to generate and transmit the display data on the hotel screenG3 can be reduced, thereby enabling the processing load on the server 20to be reduced. Further, the display data being transmitted over thenetwork is reduced, and hence the communication load can also bereduced.

The presence or absence of stock is determined based on the stockinformation on the date of use satisfying the search conditionsassociated with the viewed hotels, and the display control of the viewedhotels is performed based on the determination result. As a result, thepresence or absence of stock can be grasped from the display of theviewed hotels, which enables the convenience of the user interface to beeffectively enhanced.

The message M151 indicating the presence or absence of stock for thedate of use satisfying the search conditions associated with the viewedhotels is displayed in association with the images G150 representing theviewed hotels, and it thus becomes easier to grasp the presence orabsence of stock. As a result, the convenience of the user interface canbe effectively enhanced.

In addition, when a viewed hotel displayed in the display area A15 isselected by the user, the hotel screen G3 of the viewed hotel isdisplayed based on the search conditions associated with the viewedhotel, and the time and effort to input the search conditions again isthus eliminated. As a result, the operation load on the user can bereduced.

2. Second Embodiment

Next, the search system S according to another embodiment of the presentinvention is described. As described in the first embodiment, the viewedhotels are displayed in the display area A15 of the top screen G1. Whenthe user reserves a hotel, the other hotels retrieved based on the samesearch conditions as those of the reserved hotel have a low probabilityof being reserved by the user. Therefore, continuing to display thosehotels in the display area A15 means that unrequired information isdisplayed. As a result, in a second embodiment of the present invention,among the hotels viewed by the user, the hotels retrieved based on thesame search conditions as those of the reserved hotel are not displayedin the display area A15.

In the second embodiment, there is described a case in which, like inthe first embodiment, a hotel corresponds to an item and the date of usecorresponds to a sub-item. In the second embodiment, description ofparts that are the same as in the first embodiment is omitted, and partsthat are different from the first embodiment are described. Theprocessing of displaying the message M151 described in the firstembodiment may be executed in the second embodiment, or may be omittedso that the processing is not executed in particular in the secondembodiment. Specifically, in the second embodiment, even when there isno stock of a viewed hotel, it is not always required for the messageM151 to be displayed.

2-1. Outline of Second Embodiment

FIG. 12 is a diagram for illustrating an example of the top screen G1 inthe second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the layout of the topscreen G1 is the same as that of the top screen G1 in the firstembodiment. For example, in the display area A15, the images G150representing the viewed hotels are displayed in the viewed order.

For example, “Hotel F”, “Hotel G”, and “Hotel H” represented by theimages G150F to G150H, respectively, are hotels retrieved and viewedbased on the same search conditions. In this case, the search conditionsfor those three hotels are “Tokyo” as the place of stay, “Apr. 1, 2018”to “Apr. 3, 2018” as the date of use, and “two” as the number of users.

“Hotel I”, “Hotel J”, and “Hotel K” represented by images G150I toG150K, respectively, are also hotels retrieved and viewed based on thesame search conditions. However, the search conditions are, unlike thesearch conditions for “Hotel F”, “Hotel G”, and “Hotel H”, “New York” asthe place of stay, “May 15, 2018” to “May 18, 2018” as the date of use,and “4” as the number of users.

For example, when the user has not yet reserved a hotel, as illustratedin FIG. 12, the images G150F to G150K are displayed in the display areaA15. When the user subsequently reserves “Hotel F”, “Hotel F”, “HotelG”, and “Hotel H” are removed from the display area A15, and the viewedhotels displayed in the display area A15 change.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for illustrating how the viewed hotels displayed inthe display area A15 change before and after a reservation. Asillustrated in the top screen G1G of FIG. 13, for example, when the userselects the image G150F of the display area A15, the hotel screen G3 of“Hotel F” represented by the image G150F is displayed. After the userselects the button B30, the information required for a reservation, suchas the date of use, the number of users, and guest information, isinput, and when the reservation of “Hotel F” is complete, a reservationcompletion screen G4 is displayed on the display unit 15.

When the user subsequently selects the button B40 and returns to the topscreen G1, as illustrated in the display area A15 of the top screen G1H,not only “Hotel F”, which has been reserved, but also “Hotel G” and“Hotel H” retrieved based on the same search conditions are alsoremoved. However, “Hotel I”, “Hotel J”, and “Hotel K” are hotelsretrieved based on different search conditions, and hence those hotelsremain being displayed in the display area A15. As a result of theremoval of “Hotel F”, “Hotel G”, and “Hotel H” from the display areaA15, space is available in the display area A15, and hence “Hotel L”viewed before “Hotel K” is newly displayed in the display area A15.

In this way, in the search system S of the second embodiment, among theviewed hotels, the hotels retrieved based on the same search conditionsas those of the reserved hotel are removed from the display area A15,thereby preventing unrequired information from remaining, and enhancingthe convenience of the user interface. In the following description, thedetails of this technology are described.

2-2. Functions to be Implemented in Second Embodiment

FIG. 14 is a function block diagram for illustrating an example of thefunctions to be implemented by the search system S of the secondembodiment. In the second embodiment, there is described a case in whichthe main functions relating to display control are implemented by theserver 20, but as in the modification examples described later, the mainfunctions may be implemented by the user terminal 10, or may be sharedbetween the user terminal 10 and the server 20.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, in the second embodiment, similarly to thefirst embodiment, in the server 20, a data storage unit 200, a searchunit 201, a viewing unit 202, an associating unit 203, and a displaycontrol unit 204 are implemented. However, a part of the functions isdifferent from those of the first embodiment. There is now described thedifferences from the first embodiment. The functions of the userterminal 10 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[Data Storage Unit]

For example, the data storage unit 200 stores an item database DB1, astock database DB2, a viewing history database DB3, and a reservationdatabase DB4. The item database DB1 and the stock database DB2 are thesame as those in the first embodiment, but in the second embodiment, thecontents of the viewing history database DB3 are different from those inthe first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a table for showing a data storage example of the viewinghistory database DB3 in the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 15, inaddition to the information described in the first embodiment, anon-display flag is stored in the viewing history database DB3 in thesecond embodiment.

The non-display flag is information for indicating whether or not theimages G150 representing the viewed hotels are to be displayed. Forexample, when the non-display flag is a first value (e.g., 0), thisindicates that the viewed hotels are to be displayed, and when thenon-display flag is a second value (e.g., 1), this indicates that theviewed hotels are not to be displayed. In the following description,switching the non-display flag from the first value to the second valueis referred to as “turning on the non-display flag”, and switching thenon-display flag from the second value to the first value is referred toas “turning off the non-display flag”.

In the second embodiment, the reserved hotel and the viewed hotelshaving the same search conditions as those of the reserved hotel are notdisplayed in the display area A15. Therefore, the non-display flag canalso be said to be information for identifying those hotels. Thenon-display flag is updated when hotel reservation processing isexecuted and a record is added to the reservation database DB4, which isdescribed below. For example, the non-display flag is turned on for eachof the reserved hotel and the viewed hotels having the same searchconditions as those of the reserved hotel. Those non-display flags maybe turned off when a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

FIG. 16 is a table for showing a data storage example of the reservationdatabase DB4. As shown in FIG. 16, the reservation database DB4 is adatabase relating to the hotels reserved by users. For example, thereservation database DB4 stores the user ID of the user who has reservedthe hotel, the reservation information, and the reservation completiondate and time.

The reservation information is information indicating the content of thereservation, and is, for example, the content input by the user whenmaking a reservation. For example, information such as the hotel ID ofthe hotel reserved by the user, the room ID of the room reserved by theuser, the date of use, and the number of users is stored in thereservation information. The content included in the reservationinformation is not limited to those examples, and any other content suchas guest information may be included, for example.

For example, when the user has not changed the date of use or the numberof users after a hotel search is executed, the reservation informationcontains the same content as that of the search conditions. However, theuser can make a reservation by changing the date of use and the numberof users after the search, and in this case, the reservation informationcontains different content from that of the search conditions. When thehotel reservation processing is executed, a new record is added to thereservation database DB4, and the user ID of the user who has made thehotel reservation, the reservation information input when thereservation is made, and the reservation completion date and time arestored in the record. The reservation completion date and time may usethe current date and time acquired by a real-time clock or the like.

The user may reserve a hotel by phone or a reservation desk withoutcausing the hotel screen G3 to be displayed, and the reservation resultmay be added to the reservation database DB4, but in the secondembodiment, there is described a case in which the user makes areservation from the hotel screen G3. For this reason, the hotelreserved by the user is one of the viewed hotels. More specifically, theuser reserves any of at least one of the hotels stored in the viewinghistory database DB3.

[Search Unit/Viewing Unit/Associating Unit]

The search unit 201, the viewing unit 202, and the associating unit 203are each the same as those in the first embodiment.

[Display Control Unit]

The display control unit 204 controls, when a hotel is reserved by theuser, the display of the viewed hotels based on content information onthe reservation content and the search conditions associated with theviewed hotels.

The content information is information on the sub-items specified whenthe user reserves the hotel. The expression “when the user reserves thehotel” refers to a point in time before the record relating to thereserved hotel is added to the reservation database DB4, and may be, forexample, any time from when the user inputs the search conditions untilbefore the reservation is confirmed. In the second embodiment, the dateof use corresponds to a sub-item, and hence the content information maybe the date of use specified by the user, for example, the date of useincluded in the search conditions, or may be a date of use specified bythe user after the search.

For example, the search conditions include a condition relating to eachof a plurality of sub-items, such as the place of stay, the date of use,and the number of users, and hence the content information can be saidto be information on, of the plurality of sub-items, at least one of thesub-items relating to the reservation content. More specifically, of theabove-mentioned three sub-items, the place of stay is only used in thesearch and has nothing to do with the reservation content specified bythe user, and therefore the date of use and the number of users becomethe content information.

For example, in the case of a hotel reservation, the content informationis the date of use or the number of users. In the case of an airlinereservation, the content information is the place of departure, theintended destination, the departure date, the departure time, thearrival date, or the arrival time. In the case of a rental carreservation, the content information is the store location, the date ofuse, the time of use, or the vehicle type. In the case of a busreservation, the content information is the place of departure, theintended destination, the departure date, or the departure time. In thecase of a train reservation, the content information is the place ofdeparture, the intended destination, the departure date, the departuretime, the arrival date, or the arrival time. In the case of a restaurantreservation, the content information is the date of use, the number ofusers, or the menu. In the case of an optional tour reservation, thecontent information is the date of use or the number of users.

The content information may be the search conditions used in the searchfor the viewed hotel reserved by the user (i.e., search conditionsassociated with reserved hotel in viewing history database DB3), or maybe the reservation information on the reserved hotel stored in thereservation database DB4.

In the second embodiment, the date of use of the hotel corresponds to asub-item, and hence there is described a case in which the date of usespecified by the user when the user reserves the hotel corresponds tothe content information. For this reason, when a hotel is reserved bythe user, the display control unit 204 controls the display of theviewed hotels based on the date of use of the hotels and the date of useindicated by the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels.

For example, the display control unit 204 determines whether or not thedate of use of the hotel reserved by the user matches the date of useindicated by the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels.The “match” in this case may be a perfect match or a partial match. Apartial match means that a part of the period overlaps, for example, inthe case of staying consecutive nights at a hotel, a part of theaccommodation period overlaps. In the following description, when it isdescribed that the date of use matches, this means that the date of useof the hotel reserved by the user matches the date of use indicated bythe search conditions associated with the viewed hotels.

The display control unit 204 controls the display of the viewed hotelsbased on the determination result as to whether or not the dates of usematch. For example, the display control unit 204 does not display in thedisplay area A15 the viewed hotels for which the dates of use match, anddisplays in the display area A15 the viewed hotels for which the datesof use do not match.

In the second embodiment, turning on the non-display flag of the viewinghistory database DB3 corresponds to the processing for not displayingthe viewed hotels, and turning off the non-display flag (or not changingthe value so that the flag remains off) corresponds to the processing ofdisplaying the viewed hotels. In this way, the display control unit 204turns on the non-display flag of the viewed hotels having a matchingdate of use, and turns off the non-display flag of the viewed hotelshaving a non-matching date of use.

In the case of not preparing a non-display flag in particular, thedisplay control unit 204 may control the display of the viewed hotels bydetermining whether or not the dates of use match each time a displayrequest for the top screen G1 is received from the user terminal 10. Forexample, the display control unit 204 may perform control such that theviewed hotels are not displayed in the area A15 by deleting the recordsof the viewed hotels having a matching date of use from the viewinghistory database DB3, or by saving the records of those viewed hotels inanother database.

In the second embodiment, the search conditions stored in the viewinghistory database DB3 correspond to content information. Therefore, forexample, the display control unit 204 controls the display of the viewedhotels based on the search conditions associated with the reservedviewed hotel and the search conditions associated with the other viewedhotels. When a viewed hotel is reserved by the user, the display controlunit 204 acquires the search conditions for the reserved viewed hotelstored in the viewing history database DB3, compares those searchconditions with the search conditions for the other viewed hotels, andcontrols the display of those other viewed hotels.

In the second embodiment, the search conditions include conditionsrelating to a plurality of sub-items. Therefore, for example, thedisplay control unit 204 performs display control based on the date ofuse of the reserved hotel and a condition relating to at least onesub-item included in the search conditions associated with the viewedhotels. The sub-item to be used may be determined in advance. In thesecond embodiment, the date of use is used, but a sub-item other thanthe date of use, for example, the number of users, may be used. In thisexample, there has been described a case in which the place of stay isnot used, but the display control of the viewed items may be performedin consideration of the place of stay as well.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the display control unit204 identifies viewed hotels that are unusable due to their relationshipwith the hotel reserved by the user, and performs display control ofthose identified viewed hotels.

The expression “viewed hotels that are unusable” does not mean that thesearch system S does not accept a reservation for those hotels, butrather that it is physically impossible to use those hotels. Theexpression “physically impossible to use” means that it is not possiblefor the user to move so as to arrive at those hotels. For example, whenthe date of use of the reserved hotel matches the date of use includedin the search conditions associated with a viewed hotel, the viewedhotel is unusable.

In the second embodiment, the search conditions include a conditionregarding the date of use for a hotel and the content informationindicates the date of use for a reserved hotel, and hence the displaycontrol unit 204 identifies the viewed hotels that are unusable based onthe date of use of the reserved hotel and the date of use indicated bythe search conditions associated with the viewed hotels. For example,the display control unit 204 determines that a viewed hotel cannot beused when the dates of use match.

For example, even when the date of use of the reserved hotel and thedate of use included in the search conditions associated with a viewedhotel do not match, the viewed hotel is unusable when there is no timedifference sufficient to move between those hotels.

For example, it is assumed that the reserved hotel is located in“Tokyo”, the reservation date is “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3, 2018”, andthe check-out is 11:00 on “Apr. 3, 2018”. It is also assumed that theviewed hotel is in “New York”, with a reservation date of “Apr. 3, 2018”to “Apr. 8, 2018” and a check-in at 15:00 (Japan Time) on “Apr. 3,2018”. In this case, it is not possible to move between Tokyo and NewYork in 4 hours, and hence, even when the dates of use do not match, thedisplay control unit 204 determines that the viewed hotel is unusable.

In this way, whether or not a hotel can be used may be determined inconsideration of not only the date of use but also the location of thehotel (distance between hotels), means of transportation, and the like.For example, the display control unit 204 refers to hotel information inthe item database DB1, and identifies the location of the reserved hoteland the location of the viewed hotel. Then, the display control unit 204acquires an estimated travel time between the hotels based on thoselocations. The display control unit 204 determines that the viewed hotelcan be used when the time difference between the date of use of thereserved hotel and the date of use included in the search conditionsassociated with the viewed hotel is longer than the estimated traveltime. When it is determined that the time difference is shorter than theestimated travel time, it is determined that the viewed hotel isunusable.

The data required to calculate the estimated travel time may be storedin the data storage unit 200 in advance. For example, a relationshipbetween a combination of the location of the reserved hotel and thelocation of the viewed hotel and the estimated travel time may beprepared as data in the form of a mathematical expression or a table.For example, latitude and longitude information on the hotels may bestored in the hotel information in the item database DB1, and arelationship between a distance calculated based on the latitude andlongitude information on the reserved hotel and the latitude andlongitude information on the viewed hotel and the estimated travel timemay be prepared as data in the form of a mathematical expression or atable.

The search system S receives a display request for the viewed hotels(e.g., display request for top screen G1) from the user terminal 10.Therefore, for example, the display control unit 204 may execute inadvance, before the display request is received from the user terminal10, preparation processing for display control of the viewed hotels, andperform display control based on the execution result of the preparationprocessing when the display request is received from the user terminal10.

The preparation processing is, for example, processing of determiningwhether or not to display a viewed hotel. In the second embodiment, thepreparation processing is the setting processing for the non-displayflag. The display control unit 204 executes the setting processing forthe non-display flag in advance before the server 20 requests thedisplay of the viewed hotels. The setting processing for the non-displayflag is as described above. When it is determined whether or not theviewed hotel is to be displayed based on information other than thenon-display flag, the preparation processing is processing of settingthe information.

In this way, the display control unit 204 restricts the display of aviewed hotel when the search conditions including content correspondingto the content information are associated with the viewed hotel. Theexpression “content corresponding to the content information” refers tocontent including search conditions matching the value of the sub-itemindicated by the content information. In the second embodiment, the dateof use corresponds to a sub-item, and hence a match in the date of usecorresponds to inclusion of content corresponding to the contentinformation.

Restricting the display of a viewed hotel may be performed by, forexample, not displaying the viewed hotel (i.e., prohibiting display), orlowering a display priority of the viewed hotel (lowering the order).Restricting the display may also be performed by, for example, reducingthe size of the image G150 of the viewed hotel, reducing the brightnessof the image G150, or changing the color by graying out the image G150or the like.

2-3. Processing to be Executed in Second Embodiment

The processing to be executed in the second embodiment is generally thesame as that in the first embodiment, and the processing of FIG. 10 isexecuted in the second embodiment. However, the details of theprocessing of Step S2 and the processing of Step S16 are different fromthose in the first embodiment.

For example, in the second embodiment, when the processing of Step S2starts, in Step S20 of FIG. 11, the control unit 21 refers to n mostrecent records having a non-display flag that is off from among therecords of the viewing history database DB3. That is, in the secondembodiment, the record having a non-display flag that is on is not arecord to be acquired in Step S2. For this reason, the image G150 ofhotels corresponding to records in which the non-display flag is on isnot displayed in the display area A15. The subsequent processing of StepS21 to Step S29 is the same as that in the first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for illustrating details the processing of StepS16 in the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 17, in the userterminal 10, the control unit 11 transmits to the server 20, based on adetection signal obtained by the operation unit 14, a request to executereservation processing (Step S160). The execution request may be issuedwhen data having a predetermined format is transmitted. The executionrequest includes, for example, reservation information stored in thereservation database DB4, such as the date of use, the number of users,the names of the users, and contact information. Those pieces ofinformation may be input from the operation unit 14 or may be acquiredby holding in the storage unit 12 the search conditions input at thetime of the search.

In the server 20, when the execution request is received, the controlunit 21 executes the reservation processing based on the reservationdatabase DB4 (Step S161). In Step S161, the control unit 21 creates anew record in the reservation database DB4, and stores in the record theuser ID of the user who issued the execution request, the reservationinformation included in the execution request, and the reservationcompletion time. The control unit 21 then refers to the stock databaseDB2, and reduces the number of remaining rooms of the hotel roomreserved by the user.

The control unit 21 generates display data on the reservation completionscreen G4, and transmits the display data to the user terminal 10 (StepS162). The display data on the reservation completion screen G4 may alsobe generated based on the reservation information.

The control unit 21 sets the non-display flag based on the viewinghistory database DB3 (Step S163). In Step S163, the control unit 21identifies the record in which the hotel ID of the hotel reserved by theuser is stored from among the records of the viewing history databaseDB3, and acquires the search conditions included in the record. Then,the control unit 21 identifies a record in which the search conditionsmatching the acquired search conditions is stored from among the recordsof the viewing history database DB3, and turns on the non-display flagof the record. The initial value of the non-display flag is off, and thenon-display flags of other records remain off.

In the user terminal 10, when the display data is received, the controlunit 11 displays the reservation completion screen G4 on the displayunit 15 (Step S164), and ends the processing. When the user selects thebutton B40, the processing of Step S1 is executed again, and a displayrequest for the top screen G1 is transmitted. In this example, theprocessing of Step S163 (example of preparation processing) is executedin advance, and hence, in the subsequently-executed Step S2, viewedhotels for which the non-display flag has been turned on in theprocessing of Step S16 are not displayed in the display area A15.

With the search system S of the second embodiment, when a hotel isreserved by the user, the display of the viewed hotels is controlledbased on the content information on the reservation content and thesearch conditions associated with the viewed hotels. The viewed hotelsare not just displayed in a list, and the display of the viewed hotelsis influenced by the content information and the search conditions.Therefore, the convenience of the user interface can be enhanced. Forexample, for viewed hotels including in the search conditions a date ofuse that matches the date of use of the reserved hotel, there is a highlikelihood that those viewed hotels are unrequired information for theuser, and hence the provision of such unrequired information to the usercan be prevented. In the case of not displaying the images G150 ofunrequired viewed hotels, unrequired processing, for example, arrangingthose images G150 in the display area A15, is not performed, therebyenabling the processing load of the server 20 to be reduced. Further,the display data being transmitted over the network is reduced, andhence the communication load can also be reduced.

When a viewed hotel is reserved, the display of the viewed items iscontrolled based on the search conditions associated with the reservedhotel and the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels. As aresult, it is possible to prevent viewed hotels for which a part or allof the search conditions are the same from being displayed, and theconvenience of the user interface can be effectively enhanced. Thosesearch conditions are not stored in separate databases, but are storedin the same viewing history database DB3. As a result of reducing thenumber of databases to be referenced for display control, the speed ofthe display control processing can be increased, and the processing loadof the server 20 can be reduced.

Among the plurality of conditions included in the search conditions,unrequired information can be identified more accurately by usingspecific conditions in the display control, such as the date of use andthe number of users, and hence it is possible to effectively enhance theconvenience of the user interface. When a part of the plurality ofconditions are used in the display control, the number of conditionsused for display control can be reduced, the speed of the displaycontrol processing can be increased, and the processing load of server20 can be reduced.

As a result of identifying the viewed hotels that are unusable due totheir relationship with the reserved hotel, and performing displaycontrol of those identified viewed hotels, the viewed hotels that areunusable can be prevented from being displayed, and the convenience ofthe user interface can be effectively enhanced.

As a result of identifying the unusable viewed hotels based on the dateof use of the reserved hotel and the date of use of the viewed hotels,the display of viewed hotel that are unusable due to a temporalrelationship can be prevented, and the convenience of the user interfacecan be effectively enhanced.

Through executing the setting processing for the non-display flag inadvance before the display request for the top screen G1 is receivedfrom the user terminal 10, and performing the display control of theviewed hotels based on the non-display flag set in advance when thedisplay request is received from the user terminal 10, the speed of thedisplay control processing can be increased, and the processing load onthe server 20 can be reduced. For example, when the unrequired viewedhotels are to be identified after the display request is received, ittakes time to display the top screen G1 after the display request isissued. For example, when display requests from a large number of usersare received all at once, the processing load on the server 20increases. In terms of this point, the search system S can simplify theprocessing after receiving the display requests by setting thenon-display flag in advance, and hence it is possible to reduce the timetaken until the top screen G1 is displayed after the display request isissued, to thereby reduce the processing load on the server 20.

The display of the viewed hotels associated with the search conditionsincluding content corresponding to the content information on thereservation content of the reserved hotel can be restricted, andunrequired information can be prevented from being provided to the user.Thus, the convenience of the user interface can be effectively enhanced.

When a viewed hotel displayed in the display area A15 is selected by theuser, the hotel screen G3 of the viewed hotel is displayed based on thesearch conditions associated with the viewed hotel, and the time andeffort involved with inputting the search conditions again can be saved.Thus, the operation load on the user can be reduced.

3. Modification Examples

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above,and can be modified suitably without departing from the spirit of thepresent invention.

3-1. Modification Examples of First Embodiment

There are now described modification examples of the first embodiment.FIG. 18 is a function block diagram of the modification examples of thefirst embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 18, in the modificationexamples of the first embodiment, in addition to the functions describedin the first embodiment, an elapse determination unit 205, a loaddetermination unit 206, and an execution unit 207 are implemented. Theelapse determination unit 205, the load determination unit 206, and theexecution unit 207 are an example of elapse determination means, loaddetermination means, and execution means, respectively.

(1-1) For example, in the first embodiment, there is described a case inwhich a message M151 is displayed on an image G150 when there is nostock of a viewed hotel, but for viewed hotels without stock, the imageG150 per se may not be displayed in the display area A15. In otherwords, only the images G150 of viewed hotels with stock may be displayedin the display area A15.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen G1 in Modification Example (1-1). A top screen G1I of FIG. 19 isthe same as the top screen G1C of FIG. 5 in the first embodiment. Fromthis state, for example, when there are no longer remaining rooms for“Hotel B”, as shown in the top screen G1J, the image G150B of “Hotel B”is removed from the display area A15. The expression “there are nolonger remaining rooms” means that there are no rooms remaining based onthe search conditions at the time of the search. This point is the samein the following description.

Subsequently, when there are no longer remaining rooms for “Hotel E”, asshown in the top screen G1K, the image G150E of “Hotel E” is removedfrom the display area A15. Then, when a remaining room becomes availabledue to a cancellation for “Hotel B”, as shown in the top screen G1L, theimage G150B of “Hotel B” is again displayed in the display area A15.

The display control unit 204 in Modification Example (1-1) avoidsdisplaying the viewed hotels when there is no stock for the date of usesatisfying the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels, anddisplays the viewed hotels when there is stock for the date of usesatisfying the search conditions associated with the viewed hotels. Theexpression “avoid displaying the viewed hotels” means avoidingdisplaying the images G150 representing the viewed hotels in the displayarea A15, or avoiding transmitting the images G150 representing theviewed hotels to the user terminal 10.

For example, the display control unit 204 displays on the display unit15 the top screen G1, which includes the images G150 representing theviewed hotels with stock but does not include the images G150representing the viewed hotels without stock. In other words, thedisplay control unit 204 excludes the viewed hotels without stock fromthe display in the display area A15, and displays the viewed hotels withstock in the display area A15.

According to Modification Example (1-1), in the display area A15 of thetop screen G1, the viewed hotels without stock are not displayed and theviewed hotels with stock are displayed, and hence it is possible toenable the user to grasp the presence or absence of stock of the viewedhotels based on the presence or absence of the display of the viewedhotels in the display area A15. As a result, the convenience of the userinterface can be effectively enhanced. Further, the viewed hotelswithout stock are not displayed, and hence it is possible to moreeffectively prevent a situation in which a viewed hotel without stock isselected from the display area A15 and a reservation cannot be made eventhough the hotel screen G3 is displayed.

(1-2) For example, after the stock of a viewed hotel has run out, whenthere is a cancellation for the viewed hotel, resulting in a roombecoming available for the date of use input at the time of the search,the viewed hotel may be preferentially displayed in the display areaA15.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen G1 in Modification Example (1-2). A top screen G1M of FIG. 20 isthe same as the top screen G1C of FIG. 5 and the top screen G1I of FIG.19. From this state, for example, when there are no longer remainingrooms for “Hotel A”, as shown on the top screen G1N, a message M151Asuch as “SOLD OUT” is displayed on the image G150A of “Hotel A”, tothereby notify the user that there are no longer remaining rooms. Inplace of displaying the message M151A, the image G150A of the “hotel A”may be removed from the display area A15 as in Modification Example(1-1).

Subsequently, when a room becomes available for the date of use input atthe time of the search due to a cancellation for “Hotel A”, as shown onthe top screen G10, a message M152A indicating that stock has becomeavailable is displayed. For example, the message M152A is displayed soas to indicate the image G150A of “Hotel A”. The message M152A is animage for preferentially displaying the image G150A. For example, themessage M152A may be displayed on the image G150A, or may be displayedas a part of the image G150A.

The display control unit 204 in Modification Example (1-2)preferentially displays a viewed hotel when a state in which there is nostock for the date of use satisfying the search conditions associatedwith the viewed hotel is changed to a state in which there is stock. Theinformation indicating the determination result of the presence orabsence of stock is stored in the viewing history database DB3. Thedisplay control unit 204 determines, based on the information, whetheror not a state in which there is no stock has been changed to a state inwhich there is stock.

The change from a state in which there is no stock to a state in whichthere is stock means that stock has been returned, the stock quantityhas changed from a state smaller than a threshold value to a state equalto or larger than the threshold value, or stock has been determined tobe present after a determination that there is no stock. The displaycontrol unit 204 determines that a state in which there is no stock hasbeen changed to a state in which there is stock when, after the stock ofa viewed hotel becomes smaller than a threshold value (e.g., 1), thestock then becomes equal to or larger than the threshold value.

The “preferential display” means displaying the image G150 in apreferential manner. In other words, the preferential display can alsobe called a highlighted display, which causes the image G150 to standout. For example, displaying another image (e.g., message M152 orpredetermined icon) in association with the image G150, and changing thedisplay mode or the display position, are examples of the preferentialdisplay.

For example, the display control unit 204 preferentially displays theimage G150 by displaying the message M152 in association with the imageG150. For example, the display control unit 204 may preferentiallydisplay the image G150 by increasing the size of the image G150. Forexample, the display control unit 204 may preferentially display theimage G150 by changing the color or pattern of the image G150. Forexample, the display control unit 204 may preferentially display theimage G150 by increasing the brightness of the image G150. Further, forexample, the display control unit 204 may preferentially display theimage G150 by moving the image G150 to a first position (upper left) ofthe display area A15.

In Modification Example (1-2), when a state in which there are noremaining rooms of the viewed hotel is changed to a state in which thereis a remaining room, through a preferentially display of the viewedhotel, it becomes easier to identify a viewed hotel for which a room hasbecome available, and the convenience of the user interface can beeffectively improved.

(1-3) For example, when the date of use used in the search for theviewed hotel has elapsed, it may not be required to determine thepresence or absence of stock, and it may not be required to display theimage G150 representing the viewed hotel in the display area A15. Inother words, in the display area A15, the presence or absence of stockmay be determined, or the images G150 may be displayed, for only theimages G150 of the viewed hotels for which the date of use used in thesearch for the viewed hotels has not elapsed.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen G1 in Modification Example (1-3). In the top screen G1P of FIG.21, “Hotel L” and “Hotel M” shown in the images G150L and G150M,respectively, are hotels retrieved based on the same date of use as thatof a search condition. In this example, the date of use used in thesearch for those two hotels is “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3, 2018”.

Meanwhile, “Hotel N”, “Hotel O”, “Hotel P”, and “Hotel Q” shown inimages G150N to G150Q, respectively, are hotels retrieved based on thesame date of use as that of a search condition. In this example, thedate of use used as a search condition for those four hotels is “May 15,2018” to “May 18, 2018”.

For example, when the date of use indicated by the above-mentioned twosearch conditions has not elapsed in any of the cases, the images G150Land G150M are displayed in the display area A15, as shown on the topscreen G1P. When “Apr. 3, 2018”, which is the last day of the date ofuse used in the search for “Hotel L” and “Hotel M”, subsequentlyelapses, as shown on the top screen G1Q, the images G150L and G150 areremoved.

When more time elapses, and “May 18, 2018”, which is the last day of thedate of use used in the search for “Hotel N”, “Hotel O”, “Hotel P”, and“Hotel Q” has elapsed, as shown on the top screen G1R, the images G150Nto G150Q are removed.

In this example, there is described a mode in which, when the date ofuse extends over a plurality of days, the image G150 is removed when thelast day of the date of use has elapsed. However, the image G150 may beremoved when the first day of the date of use has elapsed. As anotherexample, the image G150 may be removed when any day between the firstday and the last day has elapsed.

The search system S of Modification Example (1-3) includes the elapsedetermination unit 205. The elapse determination unit 205 is implementedmainly by the control unit 21. The elapse determination unit 205determines whether or not the date of use indicated by the searchconditions associated with the viewed hotels has elapsed. The elapsedetermination unit 205 acquires the current date and time from thereal-time clock or the like, and determines whether or not the date ofuse has elapsed by comparing the current date and time with the date ofuse indicated by the search conditions associated with the viewed items.

The elapse of the date of use is when the current date and time is laterthan the date of use. As described above, when the date of use extendsover a plurality of days (when date of use is plurality of days insteadof one day), the elapse determination unit 205 may determine that thedate of use has elapsed when the current date and time is later than thefirst day, or may determine that the date of use has elapsed when thecurrent date and time is later than the last day. The elapsedetermination unit 205 may also determine, for example, that the date ofuse has elapsed when the current date and time is later than any daybetween the first and last days.

The display control unit 204 performs display control based on the stockinformation on the date of use satisfying the search conditionsassociated with the viewed hotels and the determination result obtainedby the elapse determination unit 205. For example, the display controlunit 204 restricts the display of viewed hotels for which the date ofuse has elapsed. The meaning of “restriction” is as described in thesecond embodiment. For example, the display control unit 204 restrictsthe display of viewed hotels for which the date of use has elapsed, anddisplays without restriction viewed hotels for which the date of use hasnot elapsed.

The display control unit 204 may also be configured to not restrict thedisplay of viewed hotels for which the date of use has elapsed, butexclude those viewed hotels from the display control based on stockinformation. Among the viewed hotels stored in the viewing historydatabase DB3, the display control unit 204 performs display controlbased on stock information on the viewed hotels for which the date ofuse indicated by the search conditions has not yet elapsed, and does notperform display control based on stock information on the viewed hotelsfor which the date of use has elapsed.

In Modification Example (1-3), the display control of the viewed hotelsis performed based on the determination result of whether or not thedate of use included in the search conditions of the viewed hotel haselapsed, thereby preventing unrequired information on hotels for whichthe date of use has elapsed from being provided to the user, and henceit is possible to effectively enhance the convenience of the userinterface. Through not performing stock determination for unrequiredviewed hotels for which the date of use has elapsed, the processing loadon the server 20 can be reduced while the speed of the display controlprocessing is increased.

(1-4) For example, when the processing load of the server 20 is high,the display control for notifying the presence or absence of stock ofthe viewed hotels is put on standby, and when the processing load of theserver 20 decreases, the display control may be performed. In this case,when the processing load at the point in time of receiving the displayrequest for the top screen G1 from the user terminal 10 is high, theserver 20 may first transmit only the images G150 of the viewed hotels.When the processing load decreases, the server 20 may refer to the stockinformation, and additionally transmit the message M151 when the stockof the viewed hotels has run out.

The search system S of Modification Example (1-4) includes the loaddetermination unit 206 and the execution unit 207. The loaddetermination unit 206 and the execution unit 207 are each implementedmainly by the control unit 2 l. The load determination unit 206determines whether or not the processing load of the computer includingthe display control unit 204 is equal to or larger than a thresholdvalue. The computer including the display control unit 204 is a computerimplementing the display control unit 204, and is the server 20 in thisexample.

The load determination unit 206 acquires the processing load of theserver 20, and determines whether or not the load is equal to or largerthan a threshold value. The processing load may be information on theload of the computer, and may be, for example, a CPU usage rate, amemory usage rate, or a communication amount per unit time. As themethod of acquiring such information, various known methods may be used.For example, the CPU usage rate and memory usage rate may be acquired byusing a predetermined command (e.g., top command in Linux (trademark)),and the communication amount may be acquired by measuring the amount ofdata received per unit time.

The threshold value is only required to be a predetermined numericalvalue. For example, for the CPU usage rate or the memory usage rate, anynumerical value of from 50% to 100% may be used as the threshold value.For the communication amount, it is possible to use a numerical valuewith a data reception amount of about several tens of megabytes persecond as the threshold value.

The execution unit 207 causes the display control unit 204 of the server20 to execute display control based on stock information when it isdetermined by the load determination unit 206 that the processing loadis smaller than the threshold value.

For example, the execution unit 207 causes the display control unit 204to put on standby the execution of display control based on stockinformation when it is determined by the load determination unit 206that the processing load is equal to or larger than the threshold value,and instructs the display control unit 204 to execute display controlbased on stock information when it is determined by the loaddetermination unit 206 that the load is not equal to or larger than thethreshold value.

In Modification Example (1-4), when it is determined that the processingload of the server 20 is smaller than the threshold value, theprocessing load of the server 20 can be effectively reduced by executingthe display control of the viewed hotels based on the stock information.When only the images G150 of the viewed hotels are transmitted to theuser terminal 10 first, and the message M151 indicating the presence orabsence of stock is transmitted later, the top screen G1 can bedisplayed more quickly.

(1-5) For example, when there is no stock at the date of use used in thesearch of the viewed hotels, among the date of use and the number ofusers included in the search conditions, the presence or absence ofstock may be determined by changing only the date of use, and anotherdate of use with stock may be proposed to the user. As the another dateof use, it is preferred to propose a date near the date of use includedin the search conditions (e.g., within one day to within several weeks),but when there is no stock near the date of use, the range fordetermining the presence or absence of stock may be gradually expanded.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen G1 in Modification Example (1-5). A top screen G1S of FIG. 22 isthe same as the top screen G1C of FIG. 5, the top screen G1I of FIG. 19,and the top screen G1M of FIG. 19. In this example, there is illustrateda case in which, for example, the date of use used in the search of“Hotel A” to “Hotel E” is “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3, 2018”.

From this state, for example, when there are no longer remaining roomsfor the above-mentioned date of use of “Hotel A”, a message M151A suchas “SOLD OUT” is displayed on the image G150A of “Hotel A”, as shown onthe top screen G1T. Meanwhile, when there is a remaining room foranother date of use, a message M153A indicating this fact is displayed.For example, when there is a remaining room of “Hotel A” if the travelplan is changed to “Apr. 3, 2018” to “Apr. 5, 2018”, the message M153Ais displayed.

The display control unit 204 performs display control based on theanother date of use with stock when there is no stock indicated by thestock information on the date of use satisfying the search conditionsassociated with the viewed hotels. For example, when there is no stockindicated by the stock information on the date of use satisfying thesearch conditions associated with the viewed hotels, the display controlunit 204 changes the date of use and determines the presence or absenceof stock.

The date of use after the change may be any date different from theoriginal date of use, but in this example, the presence or absence ofstock is determined by shifting the date of use by one day. The displaycontrol unit 204 may repeat the change of date of use and thedetermination of the presence or absence of stock until a date of usewith stock is found. When a date of use with stock is still not foundeven by determining the presence or absence of stock for a predeterminednumber of dates of use, the change of the date of use and thedetermination of the presence or absence of stock may be ended.

For example, when another date of use with stock is found, the displaycontrol unit 204 displays a message M153 indicating the fact. Themessage M153 may be displayed in association with the image G150. Likein FIG. 22, the message M153 may be displayed so as to indicate theimage G150, or may be displayed on the image G150. For example, whenanother date of use with stock is found, the display control unit 204may display a message to that effect in the image G150 in place ofdisplaying the message M153.

In Modification Example (1-5), when there are no remaining rooms for theviewed hotels, display control is performed based on another date of usefor which there is a remaining room, and hence it is possible to proposeanother date of use with a remaining room to the user. Therefore, theconvenience of the user interface can be effectively enhanced. It isalso possible to save the user the time and effort to search again foranother date of use for which there is a remaining room. From aperspective of the server 20, the server 20 does not receive a searchrequest from the user over and over again, and it is not required torepeatedly execute search processing. Therefore, the processing load onthe server 20 can be reduced, and the communication load can also bereduced because the number of search requests and search resultstransmitted and received via the network can be reduced.

(1-6) For example, each hotel may be reserved by the user, and hence, byapplying the processing in the second embodiment to the firstembodiment, viewed hotels having the same search conditions as those ofthe hotel reserved by the user may be excluded from the determination ofthe presence or absence of stock. More specifically, among the viewedhotels, the determination of the presence or absence of stock may beperformed only for the viewed hotels having different search conditionsfrom those of the reserved hotel, and the determination of the presenceor absence of stock is not performed for the viewed hotels having thesame search conditions as those of the reserved hotel.

In Modification Example (1-6), the display control unit 204 performsdisplay control based further on the content information on thereservation content of the hotel reserved by the user. In this example,like in the second embodiment, there is described a case in which thesearch conditions used in the search for the reserved hotel correspondto the content information.

For example, the display control unit 204 acquires the search conditionsassociated with the reserved hotel based on the viewing history databaseDB3, and excludes other viewed hotels having the same search conditionsas those search conditions from the display control based on stockinformation. Meanwhile, the display control unit 204 performs displaycontrol based on stock information for other viewed hotels having thesame search conditions as the search conditions associated with thereserved hotel. The content of the display control is as described inthe first embodiment.

In Modification Example (1-6), the display control of the viewed hotelsis controlled based on the content information on the reservationcontent of the reserved hotel. As a result, the viewed hotels are notjust displayed in a list, and the display of the viewed hotels isinfluenced by the content information and the search conditions.Therefore, the convenience of the user interface can be enhanced. Forexample, for viewed hotels including in the search conditions a date ofuse that matches the date of use of the reserved hotel, there is a highlikelihood that those viewed hotels are unrequired information for theuser, and hence the provision of such unrequired information to the usercan be prevented. Further, stock determination is not performed forviewed hotels for which such a determination is not required due totheir relationship with the reserved hotel, and the viewed hotels forwhich the stock determination is to be performed can be narrowed down.Thus, it is possible to reduce the processing load of the server 20while increasing the speed of the display control processing.

(1-7) For example, while the hotel search is performed, the searchconditions may be changed due to a change in the user schedule. In thiscase, there is a possibility that the user is no longer interested inthe viewed hotels based on search conditions (old search conditions)different from the changed search conditions, and hence it may not berequired to determine the presence or absence of stock for those viewedhotels. More specifically, for the viewed hotels based on searchconditions different from the latest search conditions input by theuser, it may not be required to determine the presence or absence ofstock.

In Modification Example (1-7), the data storage unit 200 stores thesearch conditions received from the user terminal 10. For example, whenthe search unit 201 executes a hotel search, the search unit 201 recordsthe search conditions input by the user in the data storage unit 200 inassociation with the user ID of the user. Only the latest searchconditions may be recorded in the data storage unit 200, or the searchconditions input by the user may be recorded in time series.

When the search conditions input by the user are changed, the displaycontrol unit 204 performs display control based further on the changedsearch conditions. For example, of the viewed hotels, the displaycontrol unit 204 performs display control based on stock information forthe viewed hotels having the same search conditions as the latest searchconditions, and excludes from the display control based on stockinformation the viewed hotels having search conditions different fromthe latest search conditions.

In Modification Example (1-7), when the search conditions are changed,display control is performed based on the changed search conditions, andstock determination that is not required in view of the changed searchconditions is not performed, and hence it is possible to narrow down theviewed hotels for which the stock determination is to be performed. As aresult, it is possible to reduce the processing load on the server 20while increasing the speed of the display control processing.

3-2. Modification Examples of Second Embodiment

There is now described modification examples of the second embodiment.FIG. 23 is a function block diagram of the modification examples of thesecond embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 23, in the modificationexamples of the second embodiment, in addition to the functionsdescribed in the second embodiment, an elapse determination unit 205 isimplemented.

(2-1) For example, in the second embodiment, viewed hotels having thesame search conditions as those of the hotel reserved by the user arenot displayed in the display area A15, but a viewing history of each ofairline tickets, rental cars, or buses may be displayed in the displayarea A15. The likelihood that the user requires information on thoseitems is higher when the search conditions are the same.

For example, when the user reserves a hotel in “Tokyo” with a date ofuse of “Apr. 1, 2018” to “Apr. 3, 2018”, the user may also reserve anairline ticket, a rental car, or a bus together with the hotel. When theuser retrieves and views airline tickets, rental cars, or buses for thedate of use, the viewing history of each of those may be preferentiallydisplayed. The meaning of “preferential display” is as described in themodification examples of the first embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen G1 in Modification Example (2-1). The top screen G1U of FIG. 24is the same as the top screen G1G of FIG. 13. In this state, when theuser reserves “Hotel F”, as shown on the top screen G1V, “Hotel G” and“Hotel H” having the same search conditions are removed, and an imageG154 representing a “Tokyo-Sapporo airline ticket” for which the date ofuse of the search conditions matches “Hotel F” is preferentiallydisplayed.

For example, the airline ticket represented by the image G154 is an itemretrieved when the user input search conditions with “Apr. 1, 2018” asthe departure date, “Sapporo” as the place of departure, and “Tokyo” asthe place of arrival, and the user then viewed the airline ticketdetails page. For example, the airline ticket represented by the imageG154 may be an item retrieved when the user input search conditions with“Apr. 3, 2018” as the departure date, “Tokyo” as the place of departure,and “Sapporo” as the place of arrival, and then viewed the airlineticket details page. The departure date of this airline ticket matchesthe date of use of the reserved “Hotel F”, and is a date of use for adifferent type to a hotel (i.e., service for which the provider isdifferent), and hence the departure date is proactively displayed inModification Example (2-1).

In this example, there is described a case of an airline ticket as anexample, but when rental cars or buses are retrieved and viewed by theuser based on a date of use or a departure date matching the date of useof “Hotel F” as a search condition, an image of those viewed rental carsor buses may be displayed in the display area A15.

The display control unit 204 in Modification Example (2-1)preferentially displays a viewed item when search conditions includingcontent corresponding to the content information is associated with theviewed item. The meaning of “content corresponding to the contentinformation” is as described in the second embodiment. The displaycontrol unit 204 preferentially displays viewed items of a typedifferent from that of the reserved item (i.e., viewed items for whichthe provider is different from that of the reserved item) when thesearch conditions including content corresponding to content informationare associated with those viewed items.

For example, when search conditions including the date of use matchingthe date of use of a reserved hotel are associated with a viewed airlineticket, rental car, or bus, the display control unit 204 preferentiallydisplays the viewed airline ticket, rental car, or bus. For example,when search conditions including the date of use matching the departuredate or arrival date of a reserved airline ticket are associated with aviewed hotel, rental car, or bus, the display control unit 204preferentially displays the viewed hotel, rental car, or bus.

For example, when search conditions including the date of use matchingthe departure date or return date of a reserved rental car areassociated with a viewed hotel, airline ticket, or bus, the displaycontrol unit 204 preferentially displays the viewed hotel, airlineticket, or bus. For example, when search conditions including the dateof use matching the departure date or arrival date of a reserved bus areassociated with a viewed hotel, airline ticket, or rental car, thedisplay control unit 204 preferentially displays the viewed hotel,airline ticket, or rental car.

In Modification Example (2-1), a viewed airline ticket or the likeassociated with search conditions including content corresponding to thecontent information on the reservation content of the reserved hotel ispreferentially displayed. Thus, information useful to the user isprovided, and it becomes is easier to reserve the airline ticket. As aresult, the convenience of the user interface can be effectivelyenhanced.

(2-2) For example, in the second embodiment, there is described a casein which the search conditions associated with a hotel reserved by theuser correspond to the content information. However, when an item hasbeen reserved or purchased by the user, the content information may beinformation stored in a database for storing reservation contentspecified by the user. In this case, the database is the reservationdatabase DB4, but the database may also be another database.

The display control unit 204 in Modification Example (2-2) performsdisplay control based on the content information stored in thereservation database DB4 and the search conditions associated with theviewed items. For example, the display control unit 204 identifies arecord in which the user ID of the user who issued the display requestfor the top screen G1 is stored from among the records of thereservation database DB4, and acquires the reservation information onthe record. Then, the display control unit 204 acquires information,such as date of use and the number of users, included in the reservationinformation as content information. The processing after the contentinformation is acquired is as described in the second embodiment.

In Modification Example (2-2), the display of the viewed items iscontrolled based on the reservation information on the reserved hotelstored in the reservation database DB4 and the search conditions of theviewed hotels. Even when the reservation content changes after thesearch conditions are input, unrequired information can be preventedfrom being provided in accordance with the actual reservation date. As aresult, the convenience of the user interface can be effectivelyimproved.

(2-3) For example, when the date of use of the hotel reserved by theuser has elapsed, there may be cases in which the user uses a similarhotel by changing only the date of use, and therefore viewed hotelshaving the same search conditions may be displayed in the display areaA15 again.

FIG. 25 is a diagram for illustrating an example of changes of the topscreen G1 in Modification Example (2-3). The top screen G1W of FIG. 25is the same as the top screen G1G of FIG. 13 and the top screen G1U ofFIG. 24. In this state, when the user reserves “Hotel F”, as shown onthe top screen G1X, “Hotel G” and “Hotel H” having the same searchconditions are removed in the same processing as that in the secondembodiment. Subsequently, when the date of use of the “Hotel F” haselapsed, as shown on the top screen G1Y, the images G150F to G150H of“Hotel F”, “Hotel G”, and “Hotel H” are displayed again.

The search system S in Modification Example (2-3) includes the elapsedetermination unit 205. The elapse determination unit 205 may have thesame function as that in the modification examples of the firstembodiment, but in this example, the elapse determination unit 205determines whether or not at least one of the date of use indicated bythe search conditions associated with the viewed hotels and the date ofuse of the reserved hotel has elapsed. The meaning of “elapse” is asdescribed in the modification examples of the first embodiment. Forexample, the elapse determination unit 205 determines whether or not thedate of use indicated by the search conditions associated with theviewed hotels has elapsed based on the current date and time obtainedfrom a real-time clock or the like, or determines whether or not thedate of use of the reserved hotel has elapsed.

The display control unit 204 performs display control based further onthe determination result obtained by the elapse determination unit 205.For example, when it is determined by the elapse determination unit 205that the date of use has not elapsed, the display control unit 204continues to restrict the display of the viewed hotels, and when it isdetermined by the elapse determination unit 205 that the date of use haselapsed, the restriction on the display of the viewed hotel is removed,and the viewed hotels are displayed.

In Modification Example (2-3), the display control is performed based onthe determination result of whether or not at least one of the date ofuse of the reserved hotel and the date of use of the viewed hotels haselapsed. As a result, it is possible to prevent the user from beingprovided with unrequired information for which the date of use haselapsed, and the convenience of the user interface can be effectivelyenhanced. Through not performing display control on unrequired viewedhotels for which the date of use has elapsed, it is possible to reducethe processing load on the server 20 while increasing the speed of thedisplay control processing.

3-3. Other Modification Examples

For example, the first embodiment and the second embodiment may becombined. Further, for example, the modification examples of the firstembodiment and the modification examples of the second embodiment may becombined.

For example, a hotel or the like handled by a travel reservation serviceis sometimes referred to as “travel product”, and thus the reservationof a hotel or the like by a user may correspond to the purchase of aproduct. In this case, the word “reserve” in the first and secondembodiments can be read as “purchase”. The items in the search system Sare only required to be items that can be reserved or purchased.

There has been described above a case in which the search system S isused mainly in situations of reserving a hotel, but the same processingcan also be applied to airline ticket reservations, rental carreservations, bus reservations, train reservations, restaurantreservations, or optional tour reservations. For example, a mixture ofthe hotels, airlines, rental cars, and buses viewed by the user may bedisplayed in the display area A15. As another example, the viewinghistory corresponding to the type of reservation made the top screen G1may be displayed. For example, when the user makes a hotel reservation,only the viewing history of hotels is displayed, or when the user makesan airline reservation, only the viewing history of airlines isdisplayed.

For example, when the processing in the first embodiment is applied toan airline ticket reservation, the display of the viewed airline ticketsis controlled based on the stock information on the departure datesatisfying the search conditions associated with the viewed airlinetickets. For example, when the processing in the first embodiment isapplied to a rental car reservation, the display of the viewed rentalcar companies is controlled based on the stock information on thedeparture date satisfying the search conditions associated with theviewed rental car companies. For example, when the processing in thefirst embodiment is applied to a bus reservation, the display of theviewed buses is controlled based on the stock information on thedeparture date satisfying the search conditions associated with theviewed buses.

For example, when the processing in the first embodiment is applied to atrain reservation, the display of the viewed trains is controlled basedon the stock information on the departure date satisfying the searchconditions associated with the viewed trains. For example, when theprocessing in the first embodiment is applied to a restaurantreservation, the display of the viewed restaurants is controlled basedon the stock information on the date of use satisfying the searchconditions associated with the viewed restaurants. For example, when theprocessing in the first embodiment is applied to an optional tourreservation, the display of the viewed optional tours is controlledbased on the stock information on the date of use satisfying the searchconditions associated with the optional tours.

For example, when the processing in the second embodiment is applied toan airline ticket reservation, the display of the viewed airline ticketsis controlled based on the date of use of the reserved airline ticketand the date of use of the viewed airline tickets. For example, when theprocessing in the second embodiment is applied to a rental carreservation, the display of the viewed rental cars is controlled basedon the date of use of the reserved rental car and the date of use of theviewed rental cars. For example, when the processing in the secondembodiment is applied to a bus reservation, the display of the viewedbuses is controlled based on the date of use of the reserved bus and thedate of use of the viewed buses.

For example, when the processing in the second embodiment is applied toa train reservation, the display of the viewed trains is controlledbased on the date of use of the reserved train and the date of use ofthe viewed trains. For example, when the processing in the secondembodiment is applied to a restaurant reservation, the display of theviewed restaurants is controlled based on the date of use of thereserved restaurant and the date of use of the viewed restaurants. Forexample, when the processing in the second embodiment is applied to anoptional tour reservation, the display of the viewed tours is controlledbased on the date of use of the reserved tour and the date of use of theviewed tours.

There has been described above a case in which the search system. S isused for a travel reservation service, but the search system S may beused in any other services.

For example, when the search system. S is used in electronic commerce, aproduct corresponds to an item, and information usable as an index ofthe products corresponds to a sub-item. For example, the sub-items areinformation on a category of a product, an attribute such as a size or acolor of a product, a product title, and a keyword included in a productdescription. For example, products such as clothing, furniture, and homeappliances may have stock information for each attribute such as sizeand color, and hence, when the processing in the first embodiment isapplied to electronic commerce, the display of the viewed products maybe controlled based on the stock information on an attribute satisfyingthe search conditions associated with the viewed products.

For example, when the processing in the second embodiment is applied toelectronic commerce, the content information is information on thepurchase content. For example, information such as an attribute, acategory, a product title, and a product description of the purchasedproduct is an example of the content information. In this case, when aproduct is purchased by the user, the display control unit 204 controlsthe display of the viewed products based on the content information onthe purchase content and the search conditions associated with theviewed products.

For example, when the product purchased by the user is one of the viewedproducts, the content information is the search conditions used in thesearch for the purchased viewed product. For example, the contentinformation is information on, among the plurality of sub-items, atleast one sub-item related to the purchase content, and is, for example,an attribute such as the size or the color. When there are products ofdifferent sizes or products of different colors, the content informationindicates which size of product has been purchased or which color ofproduct has been purchased.

For example, the display control unit 204 may identify products that arenot usable due to their relationship with the product purchased by theuser, and perform display control of the viewed products that have beenidentified. For example, the content information may be, when a productis purchased by the user, information stored in a database for storingpurchase content specified by the user.

For example, when the search system S is used for ticket sales for aconcert, an event, and the like, the ticket corresponds to an item, andinformation on a performance date, a seat type, or the like that isusable as an index of the ticket corresponds to a sub-item. For example,when the processing in the first embodiment is applied to ticket sales,the display of the viewed tickets may be controlled based on the stockinformation on the performance date and seat type satisfying the searchconditions associated with the viewed tickets (viewed performances). Forexample, when the processing in the second embodiment is applied toticket sales, when a ticket is purchased by the user, the display of theviewed tickets may be controlled based on the performance date of thepurchased ticket (purchased performance) and the performance dateassociated with the viewed tickets.

For example, when the search system S is used for a reservation of anevent such as a seminar, the event corresponds to an item, andinformation on the event date that is usable as an index of the eventcorresponds to a sub-item. For example, when the processing in the firstembodiment is applied to event reservation, the display of the viewedevents may be controlled based on the stock information (remaining seatinformation) on the event date satisfying the search conditionsassociated with the viewed events. For example, when the processing inthe second embodiment is applied to event reservation, when an event isreserved by the user, the display of the reserved event may becontrolled based on the event date of the reserved event and the eventdate associated with the viewed events.

For example, the viewing unit 202 may be implemented in the userterminal 10. In this case, the viewing unit 202 is implemented mainly bythe control unit 11. The viewing unit 202 receives from the server 20the display data on the item selected by the user, and enables the itemselected by the user to be viewed based on the display data. Forexample, the processing to be executed by the display control unit 204may be executed by the display control unit 102 of the user terminal 10.More specifically, the major processing relating to display control maybe executed in the user terminal 10. For example, in the firstembodiment, the display control unit 102 may receive stock informationfrom the server 20, and display the message M151 or determine whether ornot to display the image G150. For example, in the second embodiment,the display control unit 102 may receive content information from theserver 20, and control the display of the viewed items.

For example, functions may be shared between the user terminal 10 andthe server 20. For example, the viewing unit 202 may be implemented inthe user terminal 10, and other functions may be implemented in theserver 20. As another example, the display control unit 204 may beimplemented in the user terminal 10, and other functions may beimplemented in the server 20. As yet another example, the data describedas being stored in the data storage unit 200 may be stored by a databaseserver different from the server 20, or may be stored by a databaseserver external to the search system S.

1. A search system for a reservable or purchasable item, the searchsystem comprising at least one processor configured to: execute an itemsearch based on a search condition input by a user; view an itemselected by the user from among search results; record in a storage theviewed item and the search condition used in the search in associationwith each other; and control, when an item is reserved or purchased bythe user, display of the viewed item based on content information onreservation content or purchase content and based on the searchcondition associated with the viewed item.
 2. The search systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the item reserved or purchased by the useris one viewed item, wherein the content information is a searchcondition used in the search of the reserved or purchased viewed item,and wherein the at least one processor is configured to control, basedon a search condition associated with the reserved or purchased vieweditem and based on a search condition associated with another vieweditem, display of the another viewed item.
 3. The search system accordingto claim 1, wherein the search condition includes a condition regardingeach of a plurality of sub-items, wherein the content information isinformation on, of the plurality of sub-items, at least one sub-itemrelating to the reservation content or purchase content, and wherein theat least one processor is configured to perform display control based onthe content information and based on the condition regarding the atleast one sub-item included in the search condition associated with theviewed item.
 4. The search system according to claim 1, wherein the atleast one processor is configured to identify a viewed item that isunusable due to a relationship with the item reserved or purchased bythe user, and perform display control of the identified viewed item. 5.The search system according to claim 4, wherein the search conditionincludes a condition relating to a date of use of an item, wherein thecontent information indicates the date of use of the reserved orpurchased item, and wherein the at least one processor is configured toidentify the unusable viewed item based on the date of use of the thereserved or purchased item and based on the date of use indicated by thesearch condition associated with the viewed item.
 6. The search systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the search system is configured to receivefrom a user terminal a display request for the viewed item, and whereinthe at least one processor is configured to execute, in advance,preparation processing for controlling display of the viewed item beforethe display request is received from the user terminal, and when thedisplay request is received from the user terminal, perform displaycontrol based on an execution result of the preparation processing. 7.The search system according to claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to restrict display of the viewed item when asearch condition including content corresponding to the contentinformation is associated with the viewed item.
 8. The search systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configuredto preferentially display the viewed item when a search conditionincluding content corresponding to the content information is associatedwith the viewed item.
 9. The search system according to claim 1, whereinthe content information is information stored in a database for storingreservation content or purchase content specified by the user when anitem is reserved or purchased by the user, and wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to perform display control based on the contentinformation stored in the database and based on the search conditionassociated with the viewed item.
 10. The search system according toclaim 1, wherein when a viewed item is selected by the user, the atleast one processor enables the viewed item to be viewed based on thesearch condition associated with the viewed item.
 11. The search systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the search condition includes a conditionrelating to a date of use of a service relating to an item, wherein thecontent information indicates the date of use of the reserved orpurchased item, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:determine whether at least one of the date of use indicated by thesearch condition associated with the viewed item or the date of use ofthe reserved or purchased item has elapsed, and perform display controlbased further on a determination result.
 12. A search method for areservable or purchasable item, the search method comprising: executingan item search based on a search condition input by a user; viewing anitem selected by the user from among search results; recording in astorage the viewed item and the search condition used in the search inassociation with each other; and controlling, when an item is reservedor purchased by the user, display of the viewed item based on contentinformation on reservation content or purchase content and based on thesearch condition associated with the viewed item.
 13. A non-transitorycomputer-readable information storage medium for storing a program forcausing a computer to: execute an item search based on a searchcondition input by a user; view an item selected by the user from amongsearch results; record in a storage the viewed item and the searchcondition used in the search in association with each other; andcontrol, when an item is reserved or purchased by the user, display ofthe viewed item based on content information on reservation content orpurchase content and based on the search condition associated with theviewed item.